Stripped Bare
by rubiksbox
Summary: Hermione finds out something about Harry that she never would have guessed in a million years!
1. Finding Out About Harry

Stripped Bare- Chapter 1

Finding Out About Harry

Disclaimer- I own nothing of Harry Potter.

Author's Notes- I have recieved some flames that insult my grammar and how I indicate emphasis on words. I didn't know that there was a problem with my grammar, or that there was a specific way to emphasize anything, but there you go. So, if you are going to be that picky with my writing, you don't have to read it, that's all I'm saying.

Ron Weasley, hearing a soft pop from across the room, looked up from his television program and watched Harry drop the nylon bag he was holding on the floor and rush off to his room. Ron shrugged and returned to his show. Ten seconds later, he heard another pop and turned his head again. There stood Hermione, fuming on the Apparition spot. She glanced down at Harry's bag.

"Where is he?" she ground out. Ron, afraid his friend was soon to be fearing for his life, silently pointed towards the bedrooms. Hermione stormed down the hall and into Harry's room.

"Harry James Potter, how can you do this to me!"

"Merlin, Hermione, can't you knock?" Harry hurried to cover himself with the shirt he'd thrown over the end of his bed.

"Like I didn't just see everything already?" she retorted, slamming his bedroom door shut.

"It wasn't _everything_."

"Close enough!" Harry sighed and dropped his shirt, standing before her in his boxers.

"O.K. So now you know, but I don't understand how it really affects you?"

"I'm getting married in two days, _that's_ how it affects me! Ginny, Maureen, Kailah and Andrea took me out tonight for my party."

"Yeah, I gathered that's what it was."

"They take me to this bar, and I have no idea what's going to happen, but the night's going along fine, I'm even having a lot of fun. Until..." She dropped down onto the edge of his bed and covered her face.

"Until you figured out that was me," Harry finished. Hermione nodded.

"Harry, you were naked!" she moaned into her palms.

"Not entirely," he argued. "I was still wearing..."

"I know you weren't _totally_ naked, Harry!" she spat, dropping her hands and glowering up at him. "But when I realized it was you, I was so embarrassed!"

"Why? If you hadn't said anything, I probably wouldn't have known it was you. I didn't have my glasses on, remember?"

"Ginny would have known! I think she did from the second you came out!" She jumped up and began pacing. "She knew who you were, even though you weren't wearing your glasses, and you'd somehow covered your scar. It just wasn't until you were over by our table and I saw your eyes that _I_ realized it."

"Hermione, you saw my whole body when you drank that Polyjuice potion back at the Dursleys'."

"Oh, no I didn't. I changed clothes and everything, but like I told you then, your vision is really bad, and I kept my eyes shut when I was putting on the underwear." Harry was taken aback. He'd believed for the last three years that she'd known everything about his body.

"You didn't look?" he asked. "Not at all?"

"No! I would never have been able to look you in the eyes if I had done. I mean, you're one of my best friends!" Harry stepped over in front of her and stopped her when she reached him.

"Hermione, I'm not doing this to embarrass you."

"Well, you certainly can't be hurting for money, Harry!" She tried to pull away from him to continue her pacing. He doubled his grip on her wrists.

"Come here, sit down." They sat on the bed, Hermione making sure that no part of her touched Harry when he released her hands. "I'm doing it to help me with my inhibitions."

"What?"

"My inhibitions. I thought that if I did something like this, I would be able to be more comfortable when I went on dates."

"But, Harry," Hermione stood and faced him again. "You're a _stripper_!"

"Exotic dancer. And all right, so maybe it wasn't the best decision, but it was all I could think of at the time." He reached back and picked up his shirt, looking at what was emblazoned across the front. Hermione stared at it as well, her face turning red when he caught her.

"You want this?" he asked, indicating the garment in his hands. He held it out to her questioningly, but she shook her head. "You sure? I can always get another, and I don't wear it outside the flat. I'm not going to advertise to the whole wizarding world that Harry Potter is a male dancer." He chuckled, but stopped abruptly when he saw the fury in Hermione's brown eyes.

"Harry, that's just it. Someone from my table might decide to tell Stephen. He's already not too happy about the fact that I didn't want to move in with him until after the wedding, that I chose to stay here with you and Ron instead. He probably thinks that there's more going on than the three of us sharing this flat."

"He didn't seem too fussed about it to me."

"What do you mean?"

"About you not wanting to move in with him, that's what I mean. He looked _relieved_ to tell you the truth."

"He did not!" Hermione put one hand on her hip, pointing the index finger of the other in Harry's face.

"You don't have the slightest idea what was going through his head, so don't even beginto tell me that you do!"

"I didn't say I knew what he was thinking, just that he didn't seem to be all that upset about you not wanting to move in with him," said Harry, a defiant gleam in his emerald eyes. He shook out the shirt again and started to fold it. Hermione yanked it out of his hands.

"I'll have you know, Harry James Potter, he was only putting up a front. He told me that evening that he was _extremely_ hurt by my decision. He spent the next hour trying to change my mind." She flounced over to his desk chair and sat down, crossing her arms.

"Only an hour?" asked Harry. "Not much of a fighter, is he?"

"I'll have you know that he only gave up because we... Oohhh, never mind!" She blushed faintly at what she'd almost revealed. She stood and walked to the door. "Well, the day after tomorrow, you won't have to worry about what I think of your new occupation, or how much of a fighter Stephen is anymore, because he and I will be married, and I'll be out of here. Then you'll be free to do what you want to do." She opened the door and headed to her own bedroom.

"You're welcome for the shirt!" Harry called after her. She noticed as she passed Ron, who was on his way to the bathroom and looked at her curiously at Harry's words, that she was still holding onto it. She hurried into her room and closed the door to avoid any questions. Leaning against her door, she turned on the light and sighed, then opened the shirt and stared at the picture of Harry grinning back at her from the group picture splashed across the front.

She smiled down at it, remembering how Harry had looked as he'd danced around the room, going from fully dressed as a doctor to the almost non- exsistant g-string he'd been in towards the end of his dance when he'd come over to her table and had proceeded to lavish his attentions on Kailah.

Her smile widened as she thought of the look of surprise that had flashed over his handsome face when she'd said his name. She stepped away from the door and walked across the room, almost unconsciously bringing the shirt up to her nose, breathing in the scent of the cologne Harry had been wearing for his dance as she lay down on her bed.

Hermione closed her eyes as she thought of him in that tiny little scrap of fabric and about what a fabulous bum he had, and soon her dreams were filled with his dance, this time for only her eyes.


	2. Addition To The Wedding Party

Stripped Bare- Chapter 2

Addition To The Wedding Party

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

The sound of the phone ringing woke Hermione early the next morning. It stopped a second later, and she was just about to roll over and attempt to return to the delicious dream she'd been having when a knock came at her door.

"Hermione, it's for you," Harry said. "It's _Stephen__._ I told him you were sleeping, but he insists that it's urgent."

"I'll be there in a minute," she called back. She sat up as Harry walked away and spied a piece of light blue fabric under her leg. She pulled it out, curious as to what it was. She smiled faintly when she saw the picture on the front of the shirt, remembering the dream she'd been woken from.

Swinging her legs over the edge of the bed, she lay the garment across the top of her dresser and after turning off the light that she'd left burning all night, she opened the door and headed to answer her call.

Harry stood by the stove as she entered the kitchen. He was muttering something to himself about rude gits that had no concept of time while he started the coffee maker. His back was stiff with anger, and Hermione wondered what Stephen had said to upset him. Harry had never really seemed to care for her fiancé, Ron hadn't either, but they'd always been respectful of her decisions, and had never said anything bad about Stephen. She picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Hey, Doll!" She cringed inwardly. Stephen insisted on calling her that, and it never failed to make her feel like he thought that was what she was. A doll for him to show off in front of his friends.

"You remember that girl I told you about, my cousin's roommate, Nadia?"

"Yes, vaguely."

"Well, she's able to be in the wedding after all, so I hope you bought that fifth dress."

"As a matter of fact I did. But, Steve, you said that she was going to be tied up until next month. I was going to hold onto the dress for..."

"Her plans changed," he said abruptly. "That's all right isn't it? There's still time to add her?" he went on, sounding unappologetic.

"Well, the dress is a size seven..." Again, he cut her off.

"That's perfect! So she'll be at the rehearsal this evening, O.K.? Thanks, Doll!" He hung up without waiting for her answer. She looked at the reciever as she pulled it away from her ear and replaced it on the cradle.

"So what did Stephen want that couldn't wait for a more decent hour?" Harry grumbled, bringing two cups to the table. Hermione took one from him and shook her head in disbelief and confusion.

"His cousin's roommate. She's going to be in the wedding party, apparently." She sat down and sipped the coffee. Harry stared at her until she looked up at him. "What?"

"The day before your wedding, and he's adding someone to the _bridal_ party?"

"She wanted to be in it from the start, Harry, she just had to bow out because she was busy."

"So suddenly she's free and he decides to throw her at you at the last minute? That's preposterous!"

"I'd bought another dress in case of emergency anyway, it's fine, really. I'm glad she's able to participate."

"Hermione, why do you always do this?"

"Do what?" she asked defensively.

"You stand up for him even when it's clear that he is in the wrong." Harry sat across from her and frowned. "This is just the latest example of how he obviously doesn't really care about you."

Hermione's eyes widened with shock and anger. Harry had never voiced how much he didn't like Stephen.

"How _dare_ you? Stephen loves me, Harry! We're getting married tomorrow, and if you want to be at the wedding, you'd better apologize right now!"

"What's going on?" yawned Ron as he shuffled into the kitchen. "What should Harry apologize for?"

"He said that Stephen doesn't really care about me." She didn't see the expression on Ron's face as her back was to him, but to Harry, it was crystal clear that the redhead agreed with him.

"O.K., O.K., I'm sorry. I'm sorry that I said Stephen doesn't care, all right?" Hermione raised her chin and stood.

"Thank you," she said and left the kitchen.

"Boy, she's mad at you," Ron said, scratching his head.

"I think it's more to do with the fact that your sister took her and their friends to the club where I was working last night." Ron choked on the coffee that Hermione had left.

"You mean she knows?"

"Yeah, and so do Kailah, Maureen, Andrea and Ginny."

"Ginny saw you, too?"

"Ron, I just said that she was the one that took Hermione to the club," Harry said, running his hands through his messy black hair. "You act like it's a big deal. Ginny and Seamus have been married for three months now, you know she can't possibly be a virgin any more."

"I still don't get why the two of you didn't get back together after you killed Voldemort, Harry," Ron said, taking the now empty coffee cups to the sink.

"I told you what she said, Ron. She'd heard us in the garden on my birthday, when you were reaming me about messing her about? She heard me say that it wasn't going to happen again and decided that she didn't want anymore to do with me if I wasn't willing to admit that I still had feelings for her then. And I'm sorry to have to say that by the time we finally graduated from Hogwarts the summer after the final battle with Voldemort, I really didn't anymore. It was just in Hermione's dream last year that who we ended up with was different." Ron cringed at the rememberance.

"Yeah, she and I got together and had two kids. How weird is that? I mean, she's like my _sister_! And the fact that we were sort of _together _for the whole dream? You think there was more to it than that?" he asked, facing Harry with a worried expression on his face.

Harry laughed.

"I don't think so, Ron. Like she said, it was just a dream. I mean, she had me and Ginny married with _three_ kids. Ginny thought it was funny, and Hermione was engaged to Stephen by then." He stood and started towards the door. "But maybe she was looking for a way out of her relationship with Stephen," he added, stopping halfway across the kitchen.

"What?" Harry turned back to his friend.

"Hermione was worried that Ginny, Kailah, Andrea or Maureen was going to say something to Stephen about me being one of the dancers last night. I think it was more than that, I just don't know what. And this morning, he has the nerve to call at six o'clock and tell Hermione that he's adding someone to the wedding party and she's just supposed to go along with it. She stood up for him, and got mad at me for saying anything bad about Stephen! She doesn't want to hurt the guy, but I don't believe she really wants to marry him, either. And there's just something not right about the fact that he wants to add this woman to the wedding at the last minute, right?"

"Maybe he's cheating on Hermione with this girl?"

"Ron, you always think that." They had had many discussions on their thoughts about Stephen when Hermione wasn't around, not wanting to make her mad at them and having her decide to curse the two of them with horns or some other additional appendage.

"Ron always thinks what?" Hermione said, coming back into the kitchen and heading for the fridge. Harry and Ron exchanged looks behind her back that said that she really didn't need to hear what Ron's thought had been.

"That the Cannons are going to make it to the World Cup next season," Harry said as she shut the door and carried a bagel to the toaster with a roll of her eyes. It popped up a minute later and she gathered it along with her jacket and the notebook that contained lists of things still needing to be done for the wedding.

"You two are going to be at the rehearsal tonight, aren't you?" Both of them nodded. "All right, we're meeting at the church at six, and then going to Solomon's afterward." She hurried out of the kitchen, and a second later, they heard the front door slam shut.

"Nice save, Harry," said Ron, letting out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding, and they both went to their rooms to get dressed for the day.


	3. Fittings And Rehearsal Dinner

Stripped Bare- Chapter 3

Fittings And Rehearsal Dinner

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

"Ginny, did you know Harry was there last night?"

"No. It was just as much a surprise to me as it was you." The redhead's eyes twinkled. "But what a body!" She giggled as Hermione shot her a disapproving look. "Come on, Hermione, I may be married to Seamus, but I can still appreciate how good Harry's body is."

"Ginny," Hermione said warningly. "Tell me the truth. Did you really not know he was going to be there?"

"No, I really didn't know. You mean to tell me that you've been living with Harry all this time, and you didn't know he was a stripper?"

"Exotic dancer," Hermione mumbled. She raised her arms as the seamstress lifted her gown over her head. She lost sight of Ginny's grinning face as the creamy silk blocked her view, and frowned inside the dress. The nagging feeling that something was going to happen soon bothered her. She wanted to talk to Ginny about it, but not around the other girls. Maureen, Andrea and Kailah hadn't arrived at the shop for their final fittings, but were due at any moment.

Hermione didn't want to take the chance that they would overhear her confiding in her dearest friend. It wasn't that she didn't trust them, just that she'd known Ginny since Hogwarts and the others only since she'd been with Stephen, because Maureen was Stephen's sister and Kailah and Andrea had been Mo's roommates at University. She and the seamstress were currently working to disentangle Hermione's head through the top of the gown. As soon as she was free, Hermione lowered her arms and spun around.

"What do you think?"

"Absolutely gorgeous, Ducks," came Kailah's East London accent from the door. The seamstress's assistants bustled to get the bridesmaid dresses, and Ginny stood from the chair where she was sitting as Maureen and Andrea followed Kailah into the shop.

"We look fabulous!" Maureen crowed twenty minutes later. They were all standing in front of the mirrors, Hermione in the middle. Her white gown flowed like water down her frame, the train wrapped to lay on the floor in front of her. The others stood around her dressed in tea length emerald or silver. Ginny had complained when Hermione had told her the colors for the gowns that they would look like a bunch of Slytherins, but had agreed to wear the emerald as it would suit her dark red hair. One of the assistants cleared her throat, making the five of them turn to look at her.

"There's still the last gown," she said, holding up the silver silk on the hanger.

"That's Nadia's dress," Hermione sighed, and Ginny threw her a sideways glance.

"Nadia? Isn't she Stephen and Maureen's cousin's roommate?" Hermione nodded, lifting up her train so she could walk over to where a group of garters lay arranged on a tray. She began to look through them to keep from meeting the eyes of her friends.

"I thought she wasn't going to be in the wedding?" Andrea said.

"Yeah, and I, for one, was glad!" Maureen spat. "But she showed up at our flat yesterday and they spent the whole evening talking. I was so glad to get out of there for Hermione's party." She turned to Hermione. "You know, she didn't even mention the wedding before I left, and I don't remember Steve saying anything either, so I wonder what brought this on? Why did he call you this morning and tell you she wanted to be in the wedding so bad? And then she couldn't be bothered to come and see if the dress fits her?"

"Stephen said it would be perfect when I told him it's a size seven."

"That's a bunch of bollocks," Maureen spat. "She may not be a rail yet, but she's not going to fit in a size seven. She'd be complaining that she's swimmingin it." The others stared at her. "I had to listen to her brag how she's worked her way down to a size four. She went on about it for almost an hour and a half. It was all I could do to not smother her with a pillow."

"Hermione, are you sure you want Nadia to be in the wedding?" Ginny asked.

"Stephen said she really wants to, so it's fine with me." But inside, something had started squirming uncomfortably.

"But like Maureen said, Nadia couldn't be bothered to come here to try the dress on. And why would Stephen say that a seven would be perfect if she's a four?"

"I cannot believe this woman," Harry muttered to Ron as he sat in his seat next to the redhead.

"Yeah, I know. She shows up here claiming to want to join the wedding party, then acts like she's the Maid of Honor instead of Ginny!"

"Did you hear about the dress?" Luna said from Ron's other side. Harry and Ron shook their heads. "I heard Hermione and Ginny talking at the church, and they were discussing Ginny wearing a silver dress."

"But Ginny's dress is green," Harry broke in. Luna nodded.

"Yes, but from what Hermione said, Nadia wanted to wear green."

"So why not ask Maureen? She's Stephen's sister?" Ron asked.

"Because Ginny is a size four," Luna replied, examining her chicken. Ron was confused.

"What's Ginny being a size four have to do with anything?"

Harry's face lit up with understanding.

"Hermione told Stephen that the extra dress was a seven," he said softly. Ron and Luna turned to look at him.

"What?"

"This morning Hermione was talking to Stephen on the phone and said something about the dress being a size seven. But _Ginny_ said that when she and the other bridesmaids found out about Nadia being in the wedding, Maureen said that Nadia had been gloating about being a size four. She must have told Hermione that she wanted the smaller dress."

"But where does that leave Ginny?" Ron asked. "That dress was made to fit her, wasn't it? That's why she's been going to fittings for the last five months?" Harry nodded, his eyes narrowing as he caught sight of Stephen and Nadia laughing together by the opposite wall.

Hermione returned from her visit to the loo and Nadia gave Stephen a disappointed look before walking away as Hermione threaded her arm through Stephen's and giving him a smile.

"Something's not right here," Harry said. "I just hope that Hermione doesn't get hurt."


	4. Shock Before The Wedding

Stripped Bare- Chapter 4

Shock Before The Wedding

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

Maureen looked around her as the others finished Hermione's hair.

"Mo, we need the veil," Andrea said, holding out her hand.

"I know, I just can't seem to find it." A second later, she smacked her forehead. "Dammit! I know where it is. I was in such a hurry this morning that I left it at home." Kailah faced her with her hands on her hips.

"You just had to put those sequins on it, didn't you?" she said accusingly. "Now what are we going to do? The wedding is in an hour. We need that veil!"

"I know, I know. I'll go home and get it."

"It'll take you forever to get there in this traffic," Andrea said, glancing out the window. "You'd better hurry." Hermione stood.

"I'll go. I can be there and back within ten minutes." The others shook their heads.

"What if Stephen sees you? It's bad luck!" Maureen exclaimed. "Ginny should go."

"Ginny still needs her hair done and I can get her dress at the same time. I'm sure that Stephen won't be there," she went on, seeing Maureen about to shake her head. "Andy just said the traffic's bad. Don't worry, I'll be right back."

Maureen nodded and quickly told her where the veil and dress were. Hermione lifted the hem of her dress, waved and Disapparated to Maureen's bedroom. She picked up the veil from where it lay draped across Maureen's chest of drawers, and headed down the hall to the guest bedroom to retrieve the silver dress that Stephen had forgotten to bring with him to the rehearsal dinner to switch with Ginny's, instead just taking the green one and promising that Nadia would have the silver gown to her in time for Ginny to magically alter it and to dress for the wedding.

She froze in place when she'd pulled the shoes for the dress from the closet. A sound from Stephen's room. He was still here after all.

_**One quick look won't hurt anything,**_ Hermione thought, checking the clock.

She tiptoed to her fiancé's bedroom door and peeked around it. Stephen was sitting on a towel on his bed, his back to her. He leaned on his hands, his head falling back. Hermione smiled. He'd just gotten out of the shower and was relaxing a bit before getting ready for their wedding day. Her smile turned into a grin at that thought, and she was about to turn to go when Stephen groaned softly. The smile slid from her face instantly.

She knew that sound, she'd heard him make it repeatedly when they made love. She stared in horror as he leaned forward and lifted the woman from her position on the floor, and turning her away from him, lowered her onto his lap. Their simultanious moans hit Hermione's ears and the shoes slipped from her grasp, clattering loudly to the floor. Stephen's and his partner's heads snapped around to the direction of the sound. Hermione's eyes met Nadia's and with a small gasp of shock, she Disapparated back to the church.

"Oh, goody, you have the dress," Ginny said sarcastically when she'd reappeared in the changing room. Ginny wasn't taking having to wear the silver dress well, she'd agreed on the green only for her coloring in the first place. She took the hanger from Hermione's slack hand. "Hermione, are you all right?"

"I'm fine," was the whispered answer.

"What is it?" Maureen asked, hurrying over. Andrea and Kailah joined them, worried looks on their faces.

"I just saw Stephen," Hermione said. "He was having it off with Nadia." Kailah grabbed her friend's hand.

"You mean they were having sex!" A nod was her answer. "That bloody berk!"

"So needless to say," began Hermione slowly, handing the dress and veil to Andrea, "There isn't going to be a wedding today. Could you tell everyone? I just want to go home." Ginny nodded.

Hermione thanked her and stepping back from the rest of them, Apparated home.


	5. Helping Harry With His Routine

Stripped Bare- Chapter 5

Helping Harry With His Routine

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

Harry checked out his reflection in the full length mirror inside his closet door. He thought he looked ridiculous in hospital scrubs, but had been unable to think of anything else to be in the shows, and needed to talk to Mitch about a new character. He saw Hermione walk past his bedroom. Her shoulders were still slumped in the same position they'd been in for the last three weeks since she'd witnessed Stephen cheating on her. He turned and called out to her. She reappeared in his doorway.

"Yes, Harry?" she asked, her voice dejected.

"Can you do me a favor?" Hermione nodded. "Can you smile for me?" After a few seconds where she just looked startled, she let out a chuckle that was instantly followed by a sob and tears. Harry hurried to her and wrapped an arm around her heaving shoulders.

"I'm sorry, Hermione. I didn't mean to make you cry."

"It's all right, Harry. It's just that I was just thinking how nice it was to know that someone cared about whether I smiled or not. Stephen never really asked how I was feeling about anything. Or if he did, he just carried on without waiting for a response. Like he did about that blasted dress for that...that... I can't think of a word bad enough for her!"

"I'm sure you can, you're just too nice of a person to say it."

"You're right, Harry. I am a nice person. Probably too nice. That's why I let that son of a bitch walk all over me." Harry's eyebrows went up in astonishment.

"Son of a bitch?"

"That's the nicest name I can come up with for him. He deserves worse." She let Harry lead her to his desk chair. "You have a show tonight?" she asked, noticing how he was dressed as she sat down.

"No, I was going to rehearse my set. But I think I need to come up with a new character. Do you?" He stepped back so she could examine his costume. Her brown eyes looked him up and down, then squinted thoughtfully, her cheeks tinging pink.

"I don't know. I've only really seen you in the one show." She blushed furiously.

"O.K. then, did you pay attention to my dance?" He sat on the edge of his bed.

"Yes, but then I was _supposed _to be paying attention to you, wasn't I?"

"Yes. That's what you were there for, to see the guys in the group." He seemed really uncertain and unsure of himself.

"Harry, what is it?" she asked.

"Was I any good?" Hermione was shocked that he was asking her this, and she wasn't really sure how to answer him.

"Well," she hesitantly said, "I don't really have much experience with male dancers. But, yes, Harry, you were good." Her eyes filled with tears as she remembered the reason she'd seen him dance in the first place.

"Hey, come on, 'Mione, don't cry." Harry stood and hurrying to the chair, knelt down in front of her and handed her a tissue from the box on his desk. "He's not worth it."

"I know. I know. But I can't help it. I always thought that you and Ron were just upset that I was getting married and was going to be moving out, but that wasn't it, was it? You knew that Stephen was cheating on me?" She wiped her eyes and stared at Harry.

"No, actually we didn't. I knew there was something about him that I didn't like, but I had no idea that it was like it was. I thought he was just treating you badly."

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"Hermione, you have no idea how badly we wanted to. But it was your life and we didn't want to make you mad at us by telling you that we thought your fiancé was a major git. If the one time I did speak against him was any indication of how you were going to react, it was better that I let you find out for yourself."

"Well, thank you for that. It doesmake me feel better to know that you trust me enough to let me learn from my own mistakes."

"I don't think you made a mistake. _Stephen_ maybe, but not you. You gave your heart to the wrong person, but it was his fault that he was the wrong one, not yours." Hermione smiled at him and he stood up. "Now unless you want to talk about this some more, I need to rehearse."

"Do you mind if I watch?" Harry wasn't a bit taken aback by her request.

"No, if you want to stay, that's fine. In fact," he added thoughtfully, "It might be a good thing. Help me to get my moves down?" He went over to the door and closed it. "Ron probably won't be home for a while, but just in case, I don't think he'd want to see what I'm about to do." He chuckled as he walked to his stereo and switched it on.

"He's still rankled that Ginny saw me dance, even though she's an adult now and is married to Seamus." He stopped short as he said this and looked apologetically over his shoulder. "Sorry, Hermione."

"It's all right, Harry. It's not really so much that I'm not marrying Stephen anymore, but the fact that he cheated on me. And with someone that he was trying to add to the _bridal _party. Now come on. I'm supposed to be watching you rehearse, not brooding over that prat."

Harry grinned, opened the CD tray, and put in the disc with his songs. He magically lowered the lighting, drew the drapes and returned to the middle of the room. Even though he was now partially in shadows, Hermione could see that he was extremely nervous. He stood with his back to her, shaking out his arms and legs, then he took a deep breath and waved his hand in the direction of the stereo.

Hermione adjusted her position in the chair as the slow intro began. Harry languidly rolled his head around on his shoulders as he'd done during the show, and raised both arms. He held them level, straight out to the sides, and moved into a crouch as the music faded. Surprise rocked through Hermione seconds later as lights like the ones from the show began swirling about the room, and a driving staccato beat began with Harry dropping his hands to the floor and parting his legs so that he was in a side split position.

_**I didn't know Harry was that flexible! **_she thought. He bounced up and down a few times, then shot to his feet and headed over to her.

"I'm going to be on you quite a bit as you're the only woman in the room, you know. You don't have a problem with that, do you?" She shook her head as he straddled her and lowered himself down to her lap.

Leaning forward, Harry brought his mouth by her ear and whispered, "Good," before placing his hands on either side of her on the chairback and grinding himself into her lap and stomach. She bit back a silent groan. This was just like her dream!

"You can touch me if you want. I won't bite you," he said. Hermione blushed furiously, hoping that he couldn't see, and lifted her hands to his forearms. Harry chuckled, and taking hold of her wrists, brought her hands around to his bum. Hermione's eyes widened with shock. She wanted to pull away from him, but he continued to hold her hands in place until he rose off her lap a second later.

He strode over to his bed, and moving his body seductively the whole time, began to tease her by tugging the hem of his shirt up and down, revealing more of his stomach and chest each time. When he'd finally pulled it over his head and dropped it to the floor, Hermione was gripping the sides of her chair so tightly, her fingers were going numb. The blood started flowing into them when Harry came back over to her and straddled her lap once more, detatching her fingers from the chair seat.

"Sort of wish I had some money right now," she said softly. The chuckle she felt as Harry ran her hands down his rock-solid pecs and abs told her that he'd heard.

"What would you do with it?" he asked, leaning backwards to grind into her lap.

"Probably give it all to you!" she blurted, feeling her face heating up.

"Really? Because you're the only one here right now?"

"Uuummm, no."

"Then why would you give all your money to me?" He swung his left leg off her lap to face away from her as he stood and hooked his thumbs in the waistband of his pants. He teased her the same way as he'd done with the shirt, lowering them more each time as he revealed what was underneath them.

For a moment, Hermione was afraid that he was totally naked under them as she didn't see anything under the green cotton but his skin. She closed her eyes tightly and clapped her hands over her them when he faced her and let the scrubs drop to the floor, cracking her fingers a fraction of a millimeter to peek. When she saw that he'd only been pulling at the one garment that he was still wearing along with the scrubs to give his audience a little thrill, she slowly lowered her hands.

Harry was across the room again, dressed only in an electric blue piece of fabric that covered his front, but she knew that if he turned around, there wouldn't be anything covering his bum. He verified that a second later, spinning away from her and dropping to the side split position that had impressed her a few minutes earlier. This time though, he lay back on the floor and swung his legs into the air so that he was doing a backwards somersault. He then turned to her and did a forward roll, stopping directly in front of her on his knees.

"I think that would be reason enough to hand all my money over to you," she said, awed that Harry was able to do things like that with his body. He smiled up at her and placing his hands on her knees, shoved her legs apart. Hermione gasped as Harry lowered his head and dove between her thighs.

"What are you doing, Harry?" she squeaked, and made to pull him off as he moved closer to her center, stopping a second later when she felt him humming against her denim covered crotch. She giggled and squirmed at the tickling sensation, which rapidly became arousing as he moved higher. Harry continued to move up Hermione's body until he was sitting on her lap once more and forced her legs closed with his own. Her hands moved of their own accord, wrapping around Harry and digging in to his firmly muscled ass with her nails.

"Figure out what I'm doing yet?" he asked, his mouth running along her neck as the song ended and the colored lights faded, leaving them in the faint light that he brightened when he stood up.

"I think you were trying to turn me on," she whispered.

"Did it work?" he asked, picking up the costume and folding it.

"I was right, then?"

"Of course you were right." He waved his hand at the stereo to turn it off, then tossed the scrubs onto his dresser, and opened a drawer to take out some clothes. He met Hermione's eyes in the mirror over the top of the dresser. "That's my job, to turn the women on. Mitch says it makes them give us more money."

He opened another drawer and pulled out boxer shorts and socks. Keeping his back to her, but winking impishly at her through the mirror, he stripped off the thong he was still wearing, and slid on the boxers. Hermione's jaw dropped and she turned red.

"You can't tell me that made you blush?" he said, indicating his boxers as he turned to her. She nodded. "You just spent the last ten minutes with me in only my thong!" he chuckled.

"That's just it, you still had something on! When you took the thong off, you were standing in front of me completely naked."

"You only saw my bum, Hermione," he laughed. "It's not like I gave you the full Monty." He grinned at her as he pulled a pair of jeans on. "You feel better?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you've been walking around the flat like you've lost all your friends."

"I know. And I'm sorry, but Stephen was a part of my life for almost three years, and he does something like this to me, I can't help but be sad about it. But like I said, it's not that I'm not married to him now, but that he cheated on me. And I have to admit, you were right."

"About what?"

"I _was _always standing up for him. Even though he was wrong ninety-nine percent of the time, I wouldn't let myself see his faults. He is a major prat, and I'm glad to be rid of him, but I don't know what to do with myself now." Harry pulled a shirt over his head and crossed the room to sit on the edge of his desk.

"Whatever you wantto do, that's what. You've been doing what _Stephen _wanted you to do for the last year. _He _wanted to get married, you said yes. _He_ wanted your colors to be silver and green, Slytherin colors, I might add, you said yes. _He_ wanted to add someone to your side of the wedding party, even though the wedding was scheduled for the next day, you didn't have a problem with it. Anything he wanted, you gave it to him."

"That's not entirely true. Remember, he _did_ want me to move in with him, and I said no to that."

"But like _I_said, he didn't seem to upset about that. In fact, he looked relieved. Maybe he just asked because he thought _you_ wanted to move in and were just waiting for him to ask you."

"You really think so?"

"Hermione, come on. You didn't see it?"

"Well, I can't really remember, I was working like mad when he asked, but there was no way I was going to live with him outside of marriage." Harry laughed softly. "What?"

"Nothing, just here you are, with me and Ron. You're not married to either of us, but you're living with us."

"That's different, Harry. You two are my _friends_. Stephen was my fiancé, and my mother and father raised me to have some morals."

"O.K. then, let's just say for the sake of argument, that you were going to marry Ron." Hermione's eyes widened with horror.

"Ron? Harry, that'd be like marrying my brother!"

"All right, me. Let's say you were going to marry me." He didn't meet with any disagreement. "What would you do, then?"

"Get real, Harry. It's not like that's going to happen, is it?"

"No, but just for the sake of argument, what would you do?"

"Well, I think it would be different in that case."

"How? You'd be marrying someone that you were living with."

"Harry, honestly, what has this got to do with anything? We were talking about Stephen, not a hypothetical situation."

"Actually, it has a _lot _to do with Stephen. Now answer the question, please."

"I don't know. Unless I was dealing with that scenario for real, I have no idea what I would do."

"Didn't you just say that your parents raised you to have some morals?" Harry asked.

"Yes, but..."

"And you can't tell me what you would do if you were marrying me and we're living together in the same flat?"

"I get the idea, Harry, but like I said, it's not about to happen, so how am I to answer?" She thought for a minute.

"I guess I would have to move out of the flat until after the wedding, wouldn't I?" Harry stared at her.

"You would do that even though you've known me since we were starting Hogwarts, even though it would only be for a short period of time?"

"Harry! I said I don't know what I would do! But since you insisted on pressing the subject, that would have to be my answer. Now how did this concern Stephen?"

"I was asking because I thought maybe subconciously you didn't want to be with him at all, not just wanting to stay here until after the wedding. Like maybe the problem was Stephen, not you." He stood and crossed to his dresser, picking up his costume and putting it away in his bag.

"You never answered my other question."

"Huh?"

"Do you feel better?"

"Oh! Yes, I do, thank you for letting me stay," she said as she stood up.

"Thank you for helping me rehearse." He watched the reflection of her nodding and leaving his room, turnng only when the door had closed behind her.

"But what if you _were _marrying me?" He shook his head in disbelief as he realized what he'd said. "Where the hell did _that_ come from!"


	6. Plans For The Night

Stripped Bare- Chapter 6

Plans For The Night

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

Kailah, Maureen, Andrea and Ginny were standing on the other side of the door when Ron answered the persistant knock.

"Impatient are we?" he asked good naturedly.

"We're standing out here freezing our bums off, you great berk," Kailah retorted through chattering teeth. "And we knocked about five times. Now get out of the way and let us in!" Ron chuckled and stepped aside.

"Is Hermione home?" Ginny asked her brother.

"In her room, working, I think."

"Good, b'cause we need to talk to her," said Andrea. The four women shucked off their coats and handed them to Ron, then headed down the hall, leaving him standing there staring after them.

"Oh, I'm sorry," he muttered to himself. "Can I take your coats?" He grumbled as he hung them in the closet, then headed back to the kitchen where Harry was sitting at the table.

"Who was at the door?" Harry asked, not looking up from the catalogue he was thumbing through.

"One guess."

"Ginny?"

"And Maureen, Kailah and Andrea. They said they needed to talk to Hermione."

"Good, I was hoping that they would be by soon. She needs something to bring her out of this funk she's in. Hey, do you think Hermione would like this?" He shoved the catalogue across the table for Ron to see.

"Harry, mate, that's a Muggle store. I don't have any idea what half of that stuff is."

"It's clothes, Ron," his friend said exasperatedly. "We're supposed to be choosing Hermione's Christmas present, and you keep putting it all on me. Now help me decide already."

Ron looked down at the page.

"What one?" he asked, as there were numerous items on the page. Harry pointed to the one he had in mind. "She might. But don't you think it's a bit personal, getting her pajamas for Christmas?"

"Well, I'm not getting any input from you, so I'm sort of lost."

"How about a book?"

Harry gave him a withering look.

"Just what Hermione needs, Ron. Another book. Have you looked around the flat lately? We could open a library!" Andrea stuck her head around the door, inturrupting their conversation.

"Oy, Harry, when's the next show?" she asked.

"There's one tonight."

"Are you in it?" He nodded.

"Good," she grinned and disappeared.

"What in the world?" Ron said, scratching his head. Harry shrugged and turned the page in the catalogue, contuinuing his search for a present for his friend. "Oh my God." Harry looked up at Ron, who was staring at him, his blue eyes wide.

"What?"

"You don't think they're going to take Hermione to that show tonight, do you?"

"I don't know. But if they do, it might help her get over this thing about Stephen the git." He resumed his browsing. "Besides, she helped me rehearse the other week." The air in the room seemed to go absolutely still. He raised his eyes to Ron again. The redhead's gaze was now one of utter disbelief and shock. "What now?"

"She _helped_ you rehearse?" Ron asked accusingly.

"Oh, Ron, come on!" Harry flipped the catalogue closed and stood up. "I was talking to her about how she was doing, then when I said I needed to rehearse my set, she asked if she could stay in the room. I told her that it might be a help, and when I'd finished, we talked a bit more about Stephen, then she left. That was it. Why? Are you possibly _jealous_?"

"No! I'm going with Luna, you know that, Harry."

"Then what's the problem with her helping me rehearse? All she did was sit in my desk chair."

"But she's like our sister! You don't see anything wrong with that?"

"Ginny's like my sister too, but I wouldn't have a problem with her watching me rehearse, either. I've got to be comfortable being around women for this, Ron. Otherwise I'd never be able to get out of my shoes, much less my pants." He headed out the kitchen door and towards his bedroom, Ron on his heels, clearly not wanting to let the conversation go.

"Would you let your _own _sister watch you?"

"That's just it, Ron. I don't have a sister of my own. But, if you have to ask, yes I would. Might get some constructive critisism from someone that I think of as my sister, that's all I'm saying about letting Hermione or Ginny watch me rehearse. Now can we drop this? I have to get ready for work."

"You have to go to the Ministry at this hour, on a Saturday?"

"Ron, in case you haven't noticed, some of us have regular jobs. We don't have the luxury of being the Keeper for the Chuddly Cannons."

"Yeah, but isn't it a bit early for work?" Harry smirked.

"No, it's almost nine." He disappeared into his bedroom, laughing loudly when Ron called out a second later.

"Hey, to me that's early!"


	7. That Night's Show

Stripped Bare- Chapter 7

That Night's Show

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

"Harry, you 'bout ready?"

"Yeah, but I need a few more minutes. Can Shane go on next?" Mitch nodded and pulled his head back through the curtain. Harry heard his manager anounce Shane and sighed with relief. He knew it wouldn't last, his set was only delayed for seven or eight minutes, but he didn't think he would have been able to walk out that door just yet. He looked at his reflection in the mirror above the sink and grimmaced.

"Four months, and I still get nauseated every time," he said.

"Hey, I've been doing this for five years and still get that way," said Cameron, another of the dancers in Harry's group. "Don't let it get to ya, Harry. It's just a bit of stage fright, and you'll get over it once you're on the floor. 'Sides, there's some really hot girls at table sixteen. Check this out. The one in the middle is on fire," he added when Harry joined him at the curtain.

Harry peered through the cavernous room and located the table that Cameron was talking about. His jaw clenched when he saw it was 'Hermione' that was the one in the middle.

"That's my friend, Cam," he said. "She's here with some of her girlfriends. You remember that time in September that I got sick and had to leave in the middle of the show?" Cameron nodded. "I didn't really get sick. They'd brought her here for her bachlorette party."

"She's married and her husband let her come here?" Cameron asked incredulously.

"No, she didn't go through with it." Harry picked up his shirt and pulled it over his head. "She found out that her fiancé was cheating on her right before the wedding. As a matter of fact, it was the day of the wedding. She lives in my flat. We went to school together."

"You mean that Hoghead or whatever it was school?" Harry laughed, the butterflies in his stomach lessening as he did.

"Hogwarts. Yeah, we and our other friend, Ron live together in the same flat."

"You got anything going with her?" Cameron asked, looking out the curtain again. Harry began feeling a little bit perturbed, to his surprise. This was Hermione they were talking about, and it wasn't like she was his wife or anything.

"No, but she's like my sister, and she just got out of a bad relationship. She doesn't need to date anyone right now."

He could tell that Cameron wasn't listening to him, and sighed as his butterflies came back full force when Mitch announced him next. No matter what he'd told Ron that morning, he now felt really nervous that Hermione was going to see him take off his clothes in front of what had to be at least a hundred women.

He took a deep breath as his music started and hurried out onto the floor, hearing Ginny cat-calling and screaming his name from their table. He involuntarily grinned and blushed at the same time, glad that his back was to the room at that moment. He went through his routine automatically, not really thinking about what he was doing, moving around the room as he did. After a minute or two, he found himself at Hermione's table. She was watching him with a riveting stare. He swallowed hard and turned to Maureen.

"Hi, Harry," she giggled as he straddled her lap, rolled his hips into her a few times and bent back so she could slip a £5 note into his thong. He leaned towards her, kissed her cheek and thanked her as he got up. He moved to Andrea and repeated the act.

She slipped him another £5. He wondered about this. The most he'd ever gotten from a woman was £10, but it had been in singles and he'd been over by her numerous times. He'd just recieved that amount in two bills from the same group! He decided to push his luck and finish out the table, just to see what they all would do. He turned to Kailah, then Ginny, again coming away with the same amount from both of them, then finally Hermione. He chose to do something he'd never done.

He sat down on her lap, and bent as far backwards as he could. He braced his weight on the floor, barely registering the cheers that he was getting from this move, then pushed himself back up a second later and took in the blush on Hermione's face. He began to rise off her lap, but she stopped him with a hand on his hip and slipped a bill into his thong. Harry winked at her and made his way back to the front of the room.

When his music ended, he headed back to the dressing room and pulled the tips he'd made from the front of his costume. His eyes widened when he saw it- _£20_! He turned to the curtain and looked towards Hermione. She met his eyes and nodded when he held it up and gestured to her. He made a mental note to talk to her later. He made his way around the room with the rest of the guys when their individual sets were done, but steered clear of Hermione's table.

Ginny, realizing what he was doing, called him over to them a few minutes later. He sighed and headed in their direction, but was saved by Mitch calling out that it was time for the raffle to start. Harry spun on his heel and hurried to where the other members of his troup stood around Mitch. He had the distinct feeling that he'd heard Ginny and Maureen groan as he'd turned away from their table, and glanced over his shoulder towards them now. He found that they were all staring at him, and in his state of undress, he was grateful that the lighting was erratic up here as he felt his face getting hot and knew he was turning red. Mitch handed them each a bunch of ticket strips and sent them off into the crowd again. Harry didn't have much success getting any of the women to buy the tickets from him, he was extremely shy about asking, but he knew a table where he would be able to sell all of them in one shot tonight.

"Hello, ladies," he said when he'd reached Ginny's side. "Interested in tickets for the raffle?"

"What's the raffle?" Maureen asked. Harry sat in the one empty seat left between Kailah and Hermione, who scooted over closer to Andrea.

"You get ten tickets for £3, and if Mitch calls one of the numbers you have, you win something."

"Like what?" Hermione asked, now getting interested.

"You were at one of our other shows," Harry said, looking around the table. "You know how this works."

"No, we don't. Remember, Harry, I didn't stay until the end of the show. I left in the middle of your set."

"Oh, yeah, that's right, you did, Hermione. But surely the others know?" They each shook their heads.

"We left as soon as Hermione did," said Andrea. Hermione looked over at her, surprised. She hadn't known her friends had all left the show when she'd gone after Harry that night. She caught sight of a group of girls at the next table eyeing the five of them enviously and turned her gaze to Harry, back to the other table, and to Harry again.

"Um, Harry," she said, leaning over to him with a grin on her face. "I think you've got some fans over there." She pointed to her left. Harry's eyes followed her hand and he grinned broadly when the women at the next table waved at him.

"So, how 'bout it?" he asked when he'd returned the wave. "You want to buy the tickets?"

Hermione pulled her wallet out of her purse and extracted three bills, handing them over to Harry. He tucked them deep into the waistband of his thong, recieving a giggle from Andrea. He seperated a double line of the tickets and after pulling them apart on their perforations, handed one half of the strip to Hermione. Ginny, who still didn't totally understand Muggle money enough to know which bills she needed, leaned over to Maureen to ask. When she had that straightened out, she passed the money over the table to Harry.

He took it, stood up and went around to her chair, turned her around and straddled her lap while he seperated another group of the tickets for her. Hermione watched him and experienced a small pang that she'd never felt before. It increased when Harry continued to sit on each of her friends' laps, and she found herself wondering why he'd not done that to her. When he'd given Andrea her strip, he thanked them and went to the front to give the stubs to Mitch, and hand the money over to him at the same time.

"You know, he never did tell us what we would win," Kailah said, reading the numbers she had been given.

"I guess we'll just have to wait and find out, won't we?" Andrea replied. They didn't have long to wait. Mitch stepped up to the microphone and the women in the room all turned to face him. Hermione saw that Harry was tugging one of the light blue shirts over his head, as were the other six guys in the troup.

"O.K., Ladies! This is how the raffle works. I'm going to call out a number, and if it matches one of your tickets, you come up here, pick one of the guys," he gestured to the seven of them now standing in a line, "And you take off his shirt. The only catch is...you can't use your hands!"

A few of the women around Hermione and her friends cat called and whistled.

"Then we have some other things that we'll give away, like the chance to oil up the lads, one for their fronts and one for their backs, and more! So get out your tickets. The first number is- 867." Hermione looked down at the strip in her hands. None of her numbers matched. A squeal from the front of the room announced the first winner. She bounced up to stand in front of the guy two to Harry's left.

"All right, the second number- 491. Third-188. Next-923."

When he called the seventh number, Hermione, seeing that none of hers matched any of the ones that had been called, looked up to see Ginny's brown eyes on the verge of falling out of her head. The redhead's face turned bright red and she stood up, turned and whimpered. The rest of the table looked to the front and saw that Harry was the only one that hadn't been chosen. She covered her face and headed up to stand in front of him.

"All right, girls, now get down on your knees and on the count of three, take your guy's shirt off with your teeth!" A loud round of cheers filled the room, almost drowning out Mitch counting. "One, two, three!" Maureen put her fingers in her mouth and blew out a shrill whistle as Ginny grabbed the hem of Harry's shirt and pulled it as far up his body as she could. Harry took over from there, pulled it over his head and handed it to her with a grin. Ginny must have spoken to him, because they saw him nod and give her a hug while he said something to her.

"What did you say?" Andrea asked when Ginny had flopped back into her chair.

"I asked him if he would sign it for me to prove to Seamus that I _wasn't _kidding about Harry being a stripper." Her friends laughed.

"What did _Harry_ say?" asked Kailah.

"He told me yes, but that Seamus couldn't go around advertising about Harry taking his clothes off for money!"

"Isn't Harry's picture on the front?" said Hermione. Ginny held up the shirt and showed it to them. The only thing that was on this shirt was the group's logo. "That's different from the one I have." Four pairs of eyes turned to her in surprise.

"What? I had it in my hand when I stormed out of his room that night. I tried to give it back to him later, but he told me to keep it, that's all."

Mitch spoke into the mike again and diverted the attention to the troup members now sitting in chairs. He explained that the holders of the numbers he was about to call were now going to be rubbing baby oil all over the chest, stomach and arms of the one they chose. Hermione checked her tickets again with each number called. She didn't have one this round, either, but Maureen was the seventh number now. She also got Harry, who was sitting in his chair all alone. Mitch went along the line and poured the oil on each of the guys then told the girls to go at it. Three minutes later, Maureen returned to the table, her hands still oily from the job she'd been doing on Harry's chest. It didn't surprise them too much when Kailah was one of numbers for the third round, or that she also got Harry. Mitch jokingly pointed out that Harry didn't seem to have much luck in getting chosen. Harry shrugged and replied yes, but that all the girls he'd had were from the table that he'd sold tickets to. The four left at the table threw their hands up in triumph when Harry and Mitch looked over at them. Kailah came back with her hands like Maureen's and wiped them on her napkin.

"That man's all muscle, isn't he, Mo?" The brunette grinned slyly.

"Oh, yeah. Fab abs, too." They shot looks at Hermione, who pretended not to have heard them. She silently wished that she'd not told them about helping Harry to rehearse the other week. They'd been almost relentless with their teasing ever since. Mitch saved her from any more jokes by saying that the next number he called was for a group picture to be taken at the end of the show. He called the number out and Andrea whooped. Mitch told her that they'd catch her after a while.

"Now, we've got one more thing to give away. I need my newest lad up here." Harry went to stand by him. He handed Harry a small piece of light gray fabric and told the women what was going to be involved with this last item. Hermione blushed when she heard this and closed her eyes as Harry pulled on the tiny little scrap of a garment he'd been given. "Ready, girls?" Mitch rummaged in the bag he had the remaining numbers in and pulled one out. "The number is- 731."

Hermione looked down at her tickets and groaned, covering her face with her hands. He'd called the first number that she had. Andrea and Kailah started shoving her, telling her to get out of her seat and go up to the front. She stood and slowly made her way up to Harry, who grinned and pointed out to Mitch that he'd now had one of each of his ticket sales chosen. The other troup members applauded him and he bowed to the crowd, who were cheering him. Harry then held out his hand to Hermione to help her get down onto her knees.

She did so with a furious blush. How was she going to take that tiny little pair of bikini briefs off him with her teeth? The only thing she could think was that she was glad Madam Pomfrey had shrank her overly large teeth back in fourth year and now they were normal sized- she had less of a chance of biting Harry's skin. He helped her out by pulling the waistband away from his body and held it out for her to take. She looked imploringly up at him.

"Can't I just take them off with my hands?" she whispered. He grinned and shook his raven-haired head.

"Not a chance, Hermione. If I can get these tighter-than-hell things on in the first place, you can surely take them off with your teeth?" She dropped her eyes level with his hands. They were right above his...Oh, dear God!

His _thong_ left very little to the imagination, and now she had to be very intimately close to him to take _this_ thing off? She closed her eyes and leaned forward, her nose touching his skin just above his hands. Her teeth closed on the fabric and he took his hands away, moving them to where his thong lay underneath to keep it from being pulled off as well. Hermione tugged down gently, pulling as far as she could and Harry did the rest just as she pulled the front of the briefs below his crotch. Was it just her, or did he seem to be a bit closer to her in that area than he'd been a second ago? Merlin! Her eyes widened as she realized what was happening. She blushed again when he helped her to her feet and handed her prize to her. He pulled her close, kissed her cheek and gave her a hug.

"I know you saw that, but please don't say anything to the others," he begged into her ear. She nodded and a little dazed, returned to her table.

"What did he say to you when you stood up?" Kailah asked, laughing as Hermione sat down.

"Oh, just that he knew I wouldn't have bitten him," she said, smoothing the briefs on the table in front of her. Ginny leaned across to see what was on the side of the garment.

"These guys have everything with that logo on them, don't they?" she said, fingering the four red flaming hearts that had 'K's' in their centers.

"You want me to sign them, too?" came Harry's teasing voice from next to Ginny. He'd appeared at their table while they'd been talking and now held out his hand for Ginny's shirt. He signed that and grinned at Hermione. She squared her shoulders and pushed her prize across to him.

"You think there's enough room?" she asked, matching the challenge in his eyes. His grin widened as he put his hand around what he was writing to keep them from seeing. When he'd finished, he folded the briefs, stood and walked around the table to hand them back to Hermione.

"I want to talk to you about that twenty when we get home," he murmured in her ear as he leaned down to kiss her cheek, and when he recieved a smile in return, he walked away. Hermione unfolded the fabric.

"Oh my _God_!" she squeaked when she saw what Harry'd written to her. Andrea grabbed it out of her hands and lay it out on the table. The four surrounding Hermione laughed when they read it.

-Now was that so _hard _to do?- Love, Harry-


	8. Giving In To Desire

Stripped Bare- Chapter 8

Giving In To Desire

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

Harry tossed his bag onto a chair and flopped down on top of it, staring at his friend across from him on the sofa.

"O.K. Spill it, Hermione."

"Spill what, Harry?" she asked sweetly.

"Don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about. The twenty. Why'd you give me that?"

"You want some tea?" Hermione stood and started towards the kitchen.

"No, I don't want any tea, I want you to tell me why you gave me twenty pounds!" He levered himself up from the chair and followed her.

"I thought you deserved it."

"You gave me a £20 note because you thought I deserved it." Harry crossed his arms disbelievingly.

"Yes."

"And did the others- Ginny, Kailah, Andrea and Maureen think I deserved the fives?"

"They must have or they wouldn't have given them to you." She turned to the cupboard she'd just opened and stretched her arm above her head to take down the teabags.

Harry came up behind her and grabbed the tin, handed it to her. She felt herself get a bit flustered to have him at such a close proximity.

"Why did I deserve that much, Hermione?" he asked, not moving.

"Because you were so unsure of yourself when I watched you rehearse, that's why," she said, setting the tin on the counter and taking the lid off with shaking hands.

"I what?" Hermione turned her head to look at him.

"You asked me if I thought you were any good, remember? You didn't seem to have any confidence about your routine. We wanted to give you an ego boost, that's all."

She lowered her eyes for a minute, waiting for his rebuke. When she didn't recieve one, she met his eyes again, and was startled by the expression in them. Harry brought his hand up to her chin and turned it a bit more in his direction. Before Hermione could move, or even think, he'd lowered his head and covered her lips with his. His free arm snaked around her waist a second later, pulling her closer to his body. She covered the hand on her stomach with her own, afraid that if she didn't hold onto him, she would fall, his kiss was making her feel light-headed and dizzy.

"Thank you," he murmured when he'd ended the kiss and pulled away from her. He seemed just as shaken by the act as she was. In fact, she noticed that he raised his hand to his forehead as he moved to sit at the table.

"I think I'll take you up on the offer of the tea, after all." He looked back at her and froze. A second later, the two of them were locked in an embrace that could make the smoke alarm go off. Harry's mouth devoured Hermione's, and she met his tongue eagerly, her hands grasping his head in attempt to keep him from getting away from her. She didn't have to worry. He pressed his lean body against her, not bothering to hide the hardness that nudged her hip. Her head fell away from his mouth with a gasp, and he began to trail kisses down her throat.

"Harry, we can't," she sighed.

"Please, Hermione," he groaned softly into the crook of her neck, licking her pulse point.

"We can't do this," she repeated, distangling herself from him. He stood before her panting lightly and in absolute frustration. She smiled at him. "Not here. Ron could come in at any moment." She held out her hand and led him to the bedrooms.

"Your room or mine?" he breathed into her hair.

"Yours is closer." He led the way into his room and closed the door behind them, then cast the necessary charms to ensure their privacy.

"What about...?"

Hermione pulled out her wand and tapped her stomach with a muttered charm.

"Now let's make use of that charm before it wears off," she said, unbuttoning his jeans and pushing them down his hips.

"How long do we have?"

"Oh, about forty-eight hours," she giggled, stroking his hard length through his boxers. "Harry?"

"Yes?" he sighed.

"I'm ready for the full Monty." With a grin, Harry told her to go sit on his bed and after kicking his jeans the rest of the way off, pulled his shirt slowly over his head and stood before her in just his underwear.

"Hmmm," Hermione studied him for a second.

"What?" he asked, pausing with his thumbs hooked in the waistband of his boxers.

"Might seem a bit silly to ask this now, but what happened to your shoes and socks?"

"I didn't put them back on after the show," he answered. "I just Apparated home, so they're in my bag."

"Oh. Well, don't let me keep you," she giggled, gesturing for him to remove his last article of clothing. Harry turned away from her and slid the blue silk down his hips, letting it fall to the floor. He covered his arousal with both hands and faced her again with a smirk.

"You sure you're ready?" he asked, slowly bearing a bit of the skin hidden by his palms, then fingers, but not enough for her to be satisfied.

"Yes!" she burst out, impatient now for him to reveal what she so wanted from him.

He removed his hands and her jaw dropped. He was magnificent. His erection stood out a good nine inches from his body (But looked much larger due to the fact that he'd rid himself of the majority of his pubic hair, leaving only a small patch at the center of his pubic bone.) and was quivering from the force of the blood throbbing through it. He moved over to the bed and stood directly in front of her. His penis was different from Stephen's, and she said so.

"Does that bother you?" he asked, wondering why she'd bring up that berk now. She shook her head and closed a hand around his shaft. He hissed his pleasure.

"No," Hermione said. "I didn't mean for it to sound as if it bothered me, but I know it's not usually the custom here in Britain, so..."

"Why am I circumcised?" She looked up and nodded. Harry shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe my dad was, maybe my mum wanted me to be, or maybe Aunt Petunia had it done so that she didn't have to deal with it when she bathed me as a baby. I never really thought about it, but I do know that I wasn't the only bloke at Hogwarts that was."

"Really?" She continued stroking him, and it was getting difficult for him to even think, much less speak, so he merely nodded and quickly removed her hand. "What's wrong?" she asked.

"Nothing. Just that I'm going to lose it if I let you go on with that." He pushed her gently down to the mattress and climbed onto the bed, stradling her hips. "I want to take my time, Hermione. Not go off like a firecracker and you get absolutely nothing." He began to unbutton her blouse, and smiled when he saw her bra fastened in the front. He released the clasp and leaned down to fasten his lips around one of her turgid pink tips. A groaned whimper escaped her, and her hands buried themselves in his thick hair, pulling him closer.

"Oh, Harry! That feels wonderful! I know you don't want to hear about what I've done with Stephen..."

"Not really," he inturrupted, moving to her other breast.

"But I have to tell you that you are _'loads_ better than he is with that."

"With what?" He nibbled lightly on the hard bud in his mouth.

"That! What you're doing with your mouth right now. And your fingers, too," she moaned. Harry'd started tweaking the first nipple while he laved at the second, then switched positions.

"So I take it you like this?" he asked nervously between licks. Hermione bit her bottom lip and nodded as his fingers pinched her pebbled bud lightly.

"Mmmmm, yes. In fact you can do that harder if you want."

"I don't want to hurt you, Hermione," Harry argued. She met his eyes and saw the worry there.

"You won't, Harry." She looked closer and realized. "Harry, are you...?" He dropped his gaze to her stomach and moved away from her. "You're a virgin, aren't you? Oh Merlin, you are," she added when Harry got off the bed and went to the window.

"Yes," he said softly, hugging his arms to his chest. He turned back to her. "Hermione, I have no idea what I'm doing! I just want you to get some pleasure out of this."

To his horror, she began to cry.

"Shit, Hermione! I'm sorry!" He hurried over to her, kneeling on the floor. "Whatever I did, I'm sorry. Please don't cry."

"I'm all right, Harry. It's just that you're worried about whether _I'm_ going to get pleasure from this?" He nodded hesitantly. "Stephen never cared about me in bed. He only wanted to get off and go to sleep." She wiped the tears from her cheeks.

"He never wondered about if I was enjoying it or not. You know, I never had an orgasm with him." She blushed from telling something so intimate, but laughed when she remembered what she and Harry'd been on the verge of doing. "I had to... um," she went on, slipping her hand down her hip to give him an idea of what she couldn't verbalize. His emerald eyes followed hungrily.

"How about we see if _I _can give you one?" he asked, lifting himself off the floor and rejoining her on the bed. Hermione's arms wrapped around his neck and her head fell back when he lowered his lips to her throat, sucking gently on the silken skin he found there. His hands roamed over her breasts, teasing the tips back to their hardened state, then down to the juncture of her legs. He raised his head, silently asking if what he was doing was O.K. with her. She nodded and gasped when he undid the fastenings on her slacks with one hand, and slipped underneath the waistband of her knickers with two fingers.

"Harry, please," she whispered.

"What? What do you want me to do, Hermione? Whatever it is, I'll do it."

"I want you to do something that Stephen never did, then."

"Anything, but you have to ask." She grasped the sides of his face in her hands.

"Eat me," she begged. Harry's eyes widened. What!

"Excuse me?"

"It's not what you think, Harry," she moaned, writhing underneath him. "You take off my clothes," She placed his hands on her hips. "Then you put your head between my thighs and pleasure me with your mouth." He glanced down and gulped. "Harry, you can't _really _be that clueless about how to make love... can you?" He nodded sadly.

"Never done anything but wank off, Hermione. Ginny and I never did anything but kiss, and I haven't had a girlfriend since her. Why do you think I became a male dancer?" He gripped her hips. "Stud on the floor, dud in bed," he finished self-depreciatingly.

"One- how do you know that if you've never done it? Two- don't talk about yourself that way. And three- you've never even looked at an adult magazine?" Harry shook his head, his eyes downcast. Hermione lifted his chin to make him look at her. "Then you'll just have to learn, won't you?"

"I know what I _want_ to do," he said, nodding in agreement with her. "But I do need a teacher."

"Well then, first lesson. Take my trousers and knickers off, Mr. Potter." He did as asked and stared at the silky curls he'd uncovered.

Hermione shrugged off her shirt and bra, tossing them to the floor and moved farther up onto the bed, spreading her legs when she'd reached the middle.

"Now come to me." Harry joined her. "Put your head down here." She ran a finger over her mound. When he was in position, she said, "Open me with your hand and lick me." He brought his right hand to her curls, and using his fingers to seperate her folds, revealed the throbbing pearl inside. He stared at it in wonder for a second, then remembered what his orders had been. He bent his head and touched the tip of his tongue to a spot directly below it. Her whispered sigh told him that he'd at least done that much right.

"Do what you want, Harry," Hermione murmured. That was all the incentive he needed. Now that he'd tasted the tangy-sweet essence her body created, he craved more. He began to lap up her juices like a man starved and half dead with thirst.

"OH, MERLIN!" she cried when his tongue touched her clit for the first time. Harry shifted position so that his body was between her legs and he could watch her expressions. "I don't believe you've never done this before! If you haven't, then you're a born natural!" Hermione's back arched as she felt the first non-self induced orgasm she'd ever had in her life begin.

Harry didn't stop, but watched Hermione's beautiful face contort in her ecstasy. Her teeth bared, her eyes screwed shut and she growled loudly as she writhed on his comforter. Only when she'd collapsed onto the bed did he lift his head from her wonderful treasure box.

"Are you O.K.?" he asked. She couldn't answer him, but reached out for his hands. He took hold of hers and she tugged him up towards her.

"Now, Harry," she was finally able to whisper.

"Are you _absolutely_ sure?" He knew that their entire friendship was changing, and he didn't want to ruin it beyond repair if she was having the slightest doubt. But she nodded and helped him move into position. He may have been clueless about the rest of what he'd been doing and what was involved, but he 'did' know instinctively what he was to do next. He lowered himself gently to Hermione's warm body, and listening to her pants and whimpers as she waited for him, slipped a hand between them and looking down, lined himself up. Harry raised his eyes back to hers, and she instantly nodded her approval.

"Please," she pleaded. He moved forward, feeling his tip brush her slick heat, and nearly exploded. He had to close his eyes and stay perfectly still to regain his control. A hand cupped his cheek, and he looked down into the chocolate depths of Hermione's eyes. "Don't worry about it, Harry. I'm not going to let you off as easy as you think." He was confused, and worried.

"What?" he asked, his voice shaking with the need he could barely contain.

"I intend to try and keep you up for a while." She watched a grin slowly form and then widen. "Now, please, Harry." He nodded and began to enter her body. She lay perfectly still until he'd reached his hilt, wanting him to at least be completely inside her before it was over. He sighed as his body merged with hers, the feeling he got from _finally_ being relieved of his virginity almost more than he could take. Harry held himself motionless, not daring to move lest he detonate. After a few seconds though, Hermione could take it no longer and began rolling her hips up into his.

"Oh God," Harry whispered, and with a groaned growl, spurted deep into Hermione's warm depths, then collapsed his full weight on top of her, no longer able to support himself on his forearms. Hermione smoothed his wild, damp hair from his forehead and cooed comfortingly to him while he attempted to slow his breathing. He rolled from her a minute later, and lay staring at the ceiling.

"Are you all right?" she asked him.

"Yes. I'm sorry, Hermione."

"Why?"

"I couldn't take it, and I so wanted to make it good for you too. I didn't even make two minutes." He turned his head to look at her, his face ashamed. To his surprise, she was smiling at him.

"What?" he asked.

"Harry, it was your first time. You were bound to cum fast. But you'll get more control in time. I told you not to worry about it, remember?" He nodded, then jumped as her hand snaked down his stomach, its destination clear.

"I'm not letting you go to sleep until you manage to last at least _five _minutes." She shifted her position until he could feel her breath over the tops of his thighs. Hermione took hold of him and licked his tip. Harry gasped and groaned when he felt her surround him with a wet heat. Even though he'd just orgasmed, he felt his cock start to swell in her mouth. He had to restrain himself from bucking up into her face, compensating by wrapping one hand in her thick hair.

"Oh Merlin, Hermione, that is amazing!" he breathed. "Do I even dare ask where you learned to do that?" She pulled back to stroke his hardening length and looked up at him.

"Stephen managed to teach me _something_ about what guys like, Harry. Or at least, what _he_ liked." She returned to sucking him.

"If I ever see him again, I'm going to thank him... mmmmm, I _do_ like that... after I punch him out, of course." Hermione giggled around him. Harry raised up onto his elbows and pushed Hermione's hair back so he could see what she was doing. It was even more erotic than he'd thought it would be, and felt a surge as his penis swelled to a hardness beyond anything he'd felt before.

He glanced to his left and seeing that her bare backside was less than a foot from him, lay back down, reached over with his free hand and caressed her smooth skin. Her brown eyes had jumped up to him when he lifted his head to continue watching her, and she moved closer to him. Harry felt behind him for his pillows, pulling them under his head so that he got a better angle, then releasing Hermione's hair, twisted his upper body towards her and dipped his fingers between her slightly spread thighs, running them along the slick seam of her sex. He felt her breathed moan and used his other hand to coax her legs further apart to allow him more room to hesitantly explore while he watched.

"Don't be shy, Harry," she told him, lifting her mouth to lick him from base to tip. "You can touch me any way you want to. I'll let you know if I have a problem with it."

He then proceeded to insert two of his long fingers into her dripping tunnel. He felt her muscles clench, and the vibrations from the hum she began around his tip made him even bolder. He pulled out his fingers and grabbed her hips, moving her on top of him, then started to feast on that delicious nectar that he'd been unable to get enough of earlier. Hermione's lips quivered around him, and he felt more than heard her moans. She brought her hand to her sex and spread her folds as far as she could to give him access to her entire center.

Harry took advantage of this instantly, fastening his teeth lightly around the tight bud and flicking his tongue over it rapidly. She, on the other hand, wrapped her other hand around the base of his cock and started stroking up and down in time with her mouth's movements, making Harry's body, and in effect his head, jump with every downstroke. Hermione let him fall out of her mouth, but kept him in her hand, pumping him faster and harder when she started to come. Her cries and keening sounded like the music of a heavenly choir to Harry. She suddenly slid off him and pulled him over her as she landed on her back. He wasted no time in entering her and thrusting in and out for all he was worth.

"And I thought the _first_ time was amazing!" he panted. Hermione could only moan under him. "But it was nothing compared to this." He increased his pace as far as he was able to, and Hermione helped him deepen his penetration by pushing up on his chest then bringing her legs up to rest over his shoulders. He met her eyes questioningly when her lips formed what looked to him to be a grimace of pain.

"It doesn't hurt, Harry. It feels incredible, and I've always wanted to try it, but..."

"Don't," Harry breathed out heavily. "Don't say anything about that prat or I'll lose it, and I don't mean the way I want to." She nodded.

"Harder," she whispered. He readily complied. He could deny her nothing at this moment, she felt so wonderful and he was nearly at his breaking point. He'd definitely lasted more than five minutes, but he still didn't want to let go until he felt her release. Fortunately, he didn't have to wait long. She made that wonderful face he'd seen earlier and growled deep in her throat. Harry slammed his hips into hers once more, and with a loud groan of her name, spewed his thick fluid into Hermione's body a second time.

"O.K.," he panted, rolling off her onto his side. "You were right. That _did_ feel incredible."

He tried to keep his eyes open as she looked at him, but it was impossible.

"It's all right, Harry. Go to sleep, you've earned it," she whispered. Harry smiled and was out like a light a second later.

Hermione slowly rose from the bed, gathered what clothes she could find- being unable to locate her bra, dressed, blew Harry a kiss while she covered him with the now rumpled bedspread, and left his room- turning off the light as she closed the door behind her.


	9. Keeping It A Secret

Stripped Bare- Chapter 9

Keeping It A Secret

Disclaimer:I own nothing of Harry Potter.

The light streaming in from the windows and a loud knocking on his door woke Harry. He groaned and turned his face into his pillow, only to be impeded by his glasses. He rolled over onto his back and straightened them as he opened his eyes. His whole body ached, and for a moment, he couldn't think why. Then he remembered and a grin spread across his face. He'd finally lost his virginity! Another knock came on his door and he started to get up to answer it. The smile left his face as soon as he was sitting upright. He'd lost his virginity all right... to Hermione!

He scrubbed his face with his hands and stood up, gathering some of his clothes and pulling them on as he moved to the door. On the other side he found Ron, bearing a worried expression.

"I was starting to think you weren't here, or worse that you were dead."

"I just had a really late night," Harry replied, his voice hoarse.

"You feel all right?" Ron asked, examining him closely, then grinned.

"What?" Harry stepped back to let his friend enter the room.

"You look like you had a great shag last night," Ron laughed as he walked through the door. "But I know that you wouldn't... just..." He saw the remainder of Harry's clothing on the floor and an article of female clothing just under the bed. He crossed the room and bent down to retrieve it.

"I stand corrected! You 'did' pick up a girl after the show!" He held up the garment and Harry blushed. Ron had found Hermione's bra, and the sight of the lacy blue scrap of fabric only served to make him run his hands through his bed tossled hair. "About time, mate."

"What do you mean?" Harry asked.

"I was thinking that you were gonna die a virgin." Ron tossed the bra to Harry, whose jaw dropped as he caught it.

"You knew?" His voice broke on the last word.

"Well, yeah. Ginny said that the two of you had never done it, and thank Merlin for that, or I would have had to kill you, and I 'know' you haven't had a girlfriend since. And come on, Harry, we've been living in the same flat since Hogwarts, don't you think I've noticed if you been sleeping here every single night, even when you've got a show with that group?" Harry nodded. "So, how was it?"

"What makes you think that I slept with her?" Ron held up Hermione's bra.

"Why would this be under your bed if she hadn't taken it off?"

"She was a female stripper and wanted to show me her moves?" Harry suggested, closing his eyes as he realized how stupid that sounded.

"Aha! So you 'did' see a girl naked!" Ron crowed, laughing when his friend's cheeks turned bright red. "And I'll bet you 'did' sleep with her, didn't you?"

"All right, all right! Yes, I did sleep with her," Harry said, a wide smile forming. "Happy now?" Ron whooped and threw his fist in the air. "And..." He waited until Ron had calmed down. "I didn't pick her up, she picked 'me' up."

"Then wouldn't you have gone to her place?"

"Um... no, she lives with... her parents."

"Uh huh, right." Ron obviously didn't believe his hurriedly thought up reason.

"What did you want, Ron?"

"Oh, yeah! This came for you." He held out a letter. Harry took it and examined the post mark.

"It's from Oliver. Why did he send it by Muggle post?" He got his answer when he opened it. "He's in an area populated entirely of Muggles, and thought they would be a bit suspicious of an owl flying where there aren't a lot of trees owls would be living in. Seems they're sort of like Uncle Vernon. Ron, would you put that down?"

Ron was running the bra through his hands and sniffing it every so often. He had the decency to look embarrassed when he lay the undergarment on the bed.

"He's looking for some new woods for that racing broom he's helping create. Thinks he might have one, but wants me to get in contact with Quality Quidditch Supplies and see if they've tried it or not," Harry said as he read his letter.

"What kind is it?"

"Ebony." The redhead shrugged.

"Dunno. Never heard of an ebony wood broom, but they may have not had a lot of luck and dropped it a long time ago."

"Well, I'll ask them later today. Would you leave it alone!" Ron had picked up the bra again.

"This just smells so familiar," he said. "I can't place it."

"Harry, did you by chance happen to find my..." They both turned as Hermione appeared in the doorway. She stopped short upon seeing Ron.

"Morning, Hermione. Did you have fun at the show last night?" Ron asked her. She nodded silently. "Harry did, too." He held up her bra. "He 'finally' got shagged!" To his surprise, Hermione blushed. Harry grabbed the garment out of Ron's hand.

"I'm sure Hermione doesn't want to hear about my love life, Ron. Do you want to go with me to ask about the wood for Oliver?"

"Yeah! It'd give me a chance to see how much those shin guards are gonna cost the team." He headed to the door. "I'll be back in a few minutes." Hermione turned to Harry as Ron left and the door to the loo closed.

"Oh, my God. You told him we slept together?" she whispered, closing Harry's door.

"No! No no no! He thinks I brought someone home with me from the show." She held out her hand and he gave her the bra. "You were going to ask about this, weren't you?"

"Yes. I couldn't find it last night and hoped you would. Thank you."

"Well, actually, Ron found it. That's what started the bit about me bringing a girl home. He saw it under the bed, grabbed it and started on me." He started gathering the rest of his clothing.

"Harry, I have to make sure we're clear on one thing, and I want to do it now before Ron comes back." Harry straightened up and faced her. "It was just a one night thing, you know that, don't you?"

"Of course! I was going to ask you the same thing, really. I mean I don't want last night to affect our friendship. And I don't want Ron to know, either."

"Me either! Oh, Harry, I'm so glad you understand!" She crossed the room and threw her arms around him just as Ron knocked and opened the door.

"Hey! What's going on?" Hermione jumped back in surprise.

"Nothing! I was just telling Harry how happy I am that he had a good time last night."

"Good? I hope he had a 'great' time! But I meant he needs to get dressed, and he can't do it with you here, so scram!" He jerked his thumb towards the door.

"What about you?" Hermione queried as she moved to it. Ron shrugged.

"I'm a guy, and I've seen him naked. You haven't, now get out so he can get dressed." He gently nudged her out the door and closed it behind her. She chuckled with relief that her secret with Harry was safe.


	10. In Quality Quidditch Supplies

Stripped Bare- Chapter 10

In Quality Quidditch Supplies

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

Harry and Ron wandered around Quality Quidditch Supplies, waiting for the witch ahead of them to chose the broom she was buying for her son. Ron rolled his eyes as she asked what seemed like her four thousandth question, this one about whether the broom she was holding, a Cleansweep Twelve, had a sufficiant breaking charm.

"She's going to be here all day," Ron muttered to Harry. "We've been waiting for an hour!"

"You have anything better to do?" Harry chuckled, picking up a quaffle and turning it over in his hands. "You really think I should go for the National team next year?" he asked, resuming their topic of conversation.

"Yeah! I'm trying out for Keeper and they could really use you, too. We never lost the House Cup when you were playing at Hogwarts." He snickered. "I still remember how Dobby broke your arm in second year, and all because he was trying to keep you safe," he said as he looked over the wrist guards.

"Don't remind me," Harry groaned. He looked over his shoulder at the witch, who had finally chosen a Shooting Star Five, and was paying for it at that moment. "She's done," he said, putting the quaffle back on the table.

"About time," Ron sighed with relief. "I'm starved!"

"Is that a hint for me to buy you lunch?"

"A subtle one."

"Oh, yeah. Real subtle." They walked to the counter, and Harry asked to see the maker of the brooms for the shop.

"Can I help you, sir?" he asked when he'd come from the back room.

"I hope so. I have a letter from Oliver Wood, and he was asking me if I would check something for him." He pulled the letter from his back pocket. "Would you be able to tell me if there has ever been a broom made from ebony wood?"

"Not to my knowledge, no. But why would Mr. Wood send the letter about that to you? 'I' am the one he's working for," the man said rather haughtilly. Harry gave him a condesending smile and held up the envelope, showing the Muggle postmark.

"He's in an area where there are no wizards, only Muggles, and there aren't too many trees that an owl would enhabit around the area. They would be really suspicious if they saw one and hunt down the reason for it being there. He had to send it by Muggle post." He glanced back at Ron, who was just as put off as he by the man's attitude towards them.

"Oh, well...I had no idea, but the only ones that are to know about the work that Oliver is doing are the two of us."

"Well, if he can't deliver it by owl, he had to send it to someone that he knew that had a Muggle post box, now didn't he?" came Ron's furious retort. The broom maker didn't have the decency to appear ashamed of his behavior toward Harry even now. "And do you have any 'idea' who you're talking to?" The man sighed.

"I appologize, sirs, but I don't think it really matters who you are, what matters is that this broom was to be a complete secret..."

"Harry, I say we get out of here and tell Wood that we couldn't get any help from this guy."

"Harry?" the broom maker croaked in shock.

"Yeah," said Ron. "He's Harry Potter. Thought you would've known that one, as it was 'him' that saved the world from Voldemort!" With that said, Ron turned on his heel and stormed out of the shop.

"Oh, Mr. Potter, I am 'terribly' sorry! Of course if Mr. Wood felt secure enough to entrust you to the knowledge of the broom, then who am I to question him?" Harry smiled wanly and told the man what Oliver's letter had said.

The man gestured for him to follow as two customers came through the door. When he was seated by the broom maker's work area, the man showed Harry the design for the new broom.

"So it's going to be called 'Hurricane'?"

"Oh, yes! Twice as fast as the Firebolt, and even more streamlined."

"So it'll make the Firebolt obsolete?" The broom maker nodded happily. "My last broom was a Firebolt. Lost it when Voldemort was chasing me the summer I turned seventeen."

"You haven't replaced it yet?"

"No."

"Then to show you how sorry I am for my abrupt manner earlier, the minute the finished model is ready, you are the first to get one, free of charge, of course."

"Well, thank you, but it's not neccessary," said Harry.

"I insist, Mr. Potter."

"All right, then." Harry stood and thanked the man. When he returned to the front of the store, the owner stopped him and appologized for the broom maker's attitude.

"He's very secretive about his work and doesn't like people nosing around it. Is there any way Quality Quidditch Supplies can make amends?" Harry thought for a second.

"My friend Ron is on the Chuddly Cannons. Some of them need new shin guards." The owner smiled broadly.

"The best we have in stock!" Ten minutes later, Harry exited the shop, ladden down with the shin guards and met up with a still sullen looking Ron.

"What's that?" Ron asked, indicating the packages.

"The owner gave me these as an apology for the broom maker. It's the Cannon's shin guards." He handed them over to Ron. "The best ones made, for the whole team and the reserves." He headed off towards Florean Fortesue's, leaving Ron staring after him in utter surprise.


	11. Early Christmas Presents

Stripped Bare- Chapter 11

Early Chirstmas Presents

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

"Stop that." Hermione swatted Harry's hand away as he reached in front of her, snagging another slice of cucumber. "You keep it up, and we won't have any left for the salad."

"O.K.," he replied, popping the cucumber into his mouth. "What time are they getting here?" Ron's family were coming to the flat for Christmas dinner, and Hermione was finishing the salad before she went to change.

"In about two hours," she answered, glancing at the clock. "They're bringing our presents as we're not going to be able to go to the Burrow with Ron tomorrow."

"They understand about you wanting to be with your own family," Harry said, walking to the fridge and taking out a bottle of water. "And that I'm going with you so your parents can thank me again for getting you away from Stephen, although it wasn't actually me that did it."

"I told them that you warned me about how Stephen was acting, that's all, and you 'did' do that." She added the sliced cucumber to the salad. "They think you knew the git was cheating on me, and that you told me."

"Well, that's nice and all, but don't you think we ought to set them straight?"

"I'm going to when we get there."

"I don't think I need to ask this, but are you going to tell them?"

"About what?"

"About what happened the other night?"

"Harry Potter, have you lost your mind? I don't tell my mother 'everything'. She probably believes that I'm still a virgin even though I was with Stephen for almost three years."

"Hermione, she 'has' to realize that you'd more than likely slept with him."

"I don't think so. I've already told you that she raised me to have morals. She would think that all her hard work had gone to waste if she knew that I'd been with Stephen before we were married."

"Where are you two?"

"In the kitchen, Ron!" Harry answered. "I think we'd better put a hold on this conversation." Hermione nodded. "You need any help?"

"No, not really. The ham is almost finished, and all I have to do now is get the rolls in the oven. That can wait until they get here."

"Then I'm going to go take my shower," he said, finishing his water and tossing the bottle into the bin next to the garbage can. Ron came into the kitchen just as Harry reached the door.

"Hang on," he said, holding out an large oddly wrapped present to Harry and tossing another to Hermione. It landed on top of the salad bowl as she was carrying it to the refrigerator.

"Ron! You could have made me drop this!"

"Sorry," he grinned. "They're from Luna. I think you'd better open them now. She's sitting in the living room and she's all nervous about whether you're going to like them or not."

"I can only imagine what Luna would give as a Christmas present," Harry muttered as he tore off the paper.

As it turned out, he was mistaken. He'd revealed a beautiful new green winter cloak. He lifted it from the paper and the color shifted in the light to an almost black. "Wow!" he whispered, and looked over to see what Hermione had recieved. She was holding up another cloak, this one in a light blue that turned almost white, and was examining something on the inside of the collar. When she tugged on that something a second later, the cloak began to shrink and change shape. It had turned into a winter coat.

"Oh, my," Hermione said in awe. "This is so wonderful!" She slid the coat on, and although it looked as if it were too big, it soon fit as if it had been made for her.

Harry looked at the collar of his own present, and saw a tiny tag that read, 'pull me'. He did as it said, and then held a coat much like Hermione's in his hands. He put it on, and felt the fabric shift to fit his arms and torso perfectly.

"Wonderful? These are fantastic! We can wear them in the Muggle world 'and' in the magical," he said, and went out into the living room, finding a anxiously fidgiting Luna on the couch. She stood as the three of them entered the room, and was soon engulfed in a hug from Harry.

"I take it you like them?" she said in her dreamy voice

.

"Like them? Luna, this is the best present! Where on earth did you find them?"

"Actually, I made them," she said, blushing. "I was afraid that you wouldn't like them since you don't have the same taste in clothes as I do." This evening, she was wearing a purple and white turtleneck and a pair of blue jeans. This would have seemed normal, until they looked down at her feet and saw neon green and red bells on her turquoise sneakers. Harry grinned.

"Those are the coolest shoes," he said. Luna beamed a thank you.

"What are the spells on these?" asked Hermione, who'd turned her coat back into a cloak and was fastening it around her neck.

"Oh, just simple transfiguration and size modification. They have to be renewed each winter, though. I wasn't able to find a more powerful charm."

"You should really think about getting into making clothes for a living, Luna. You could make some serious galleons."

"That's what 'I' keep telling her," said Ron. "But she thinks she's not good enough." Harry looked at the clock.

"I going to get my shower now, so I'll leave the three of you to talk about that." He took off the coat and kissed Luna on the cheek. "Thank you, Luna."

"Merry Christmas, Harry."

"Merry Christmas. Your present from me is under the tree. You can open it now if you want." He hugged her again and set off down the hall to his bedroom.


	12. Steaming Up The Bathroom

Stripped Bare- Chapter 12

Steaming Up The Bathroom

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

Hermione listened at the bathroom door. She didn't hear anything, but didn't know why Harry would have closed it when he had gone to his bedroom. She looked to his room and saw that the door was open but the light was on, so thinking he must be almost ready for their dinner party, she opened the bathroom door and stepped inside. As soon as she'd shut the door, she realized she'd been wrong.

Harry 'wasn't' almost ready for the party, he was leaning against the edge of the sink. Naked and totally aroused. He jumped when he heard the click of the latch and moved to cover himself until he saw who had come into the bathroom.

"Problem, Harry?" Hermione giggled, indicating his erection.

"Yeah," he sighed, running a hand over his chin. "Made the mistake of thinking about that night and ended up like this."

"You want some help with it?" she breathed, crossing to stand in front of him. His eyes flashed momentarily.

"Hermione, we agreed. It was a one time thing. I'll just wait until it goes down, then go to my room. You go ahead and get your shower."

"O.K., but you can't say I didn't offer."

She turned from him slowly and began to strip off. This didn't help Harry's predicament one whit. It only served to make him even harder, if that was humanly possible. He breathed a sigh of relief when she stepped into the shower and drew the curtain. But then thoughts of what she was doing under the steamy spray invaded his brain and he groaned softly.

How was he going to get dressed when he couldn't even leave the bathroom! He had a few options of course. He could hurry to his room, and hope that Ron and Luna didn't actually notice him. Good luck with that. The bathroom was in plain sight from the living room. He didn't have a problem with Luna seeing him in a towel, but having a 'very' visible erection under it? He could take care of it with his hand, but Hermione would be out of the shower in a few minutes. God, he wished they could Apparate from room to room inside the flat!

He stiffened as the shower turned off and Hermione pulled the curtain back. If she was surprised to see him still in the same spot, she didn't show it. She merely dried herself and picked up her wand, flicking it towards the door twice and dropped to her knees in front of Harry.

Before he could say a word, she'd taken half of his cock into her mouth and began to suck him.

"Hermione!" he gasped, his hands moving to push her off him, but she captured them before he could. He stood in shock for a second, then let out a groan that told her he wasn't going to fight her if she wanted to help him. She released his hands and grasped his hips with her own. Harry fisted her hair, careful not to pull it out, and sighed as Hermione took him even farther down her throat.

"Oh, God," he whispered repeatedly. He didn't know how much more he was going to be able to take, but intended to find out. He reached down and pulled her up to her feet.

"What's wrong?" she asked. He didn't answer, but moved to lean her over the counter and after inserting two fingers inside her opening to make sure she was wet for him, he grasped her waist and slipped into her fast and hard. She screamed as she came from the sudden invasion of his member into her tunnel. Harry slammed his hips into hers faster and faster until he could hold back no more and spewed his cum deep into her.

He fell back against the wall, gasping, and slid down it to the floor. Hermione grabbed her wand from the floor and hurriedly did a charm to prevent Harry's reckless behavior from having any consequences.

"I'm 'so' sorry, Hermione. I shouldn't have done that without using the charm first," he said when he'd managed to catch his breath.

"No, you shouldn't," she replied. Harry lowered his eyes in shame. "But I understand why you did."

"You do?" he asked.

"Yes. You just lost your virginity two weeks ago. Now your hormones are running rampant?" He looked up and nodded in agreement. That was 'exactly' how he felt at the moment. She crouched down to his level. "But, Harry, you're going to have to get into the habit of remembering that charm, or if you're with a Muggle girl, something else unless you're going to tell her that you're a wizard." She held out her hand and helped him to stand up.

"I haven't damaged our friendship, have I?"

"No, but we are going to have to find you a girlfriend." He grinned at the prospect of having his first girlfriend since Ginny, and Hermione surprisingly felt a small pang of jealousy.


	13. Confession At The Granger House

Stripped Bare- Chapter 13

Confession At The Granger House

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

Harry and Hermione arrived at her parents' house the next morning, carrying two bags each, and wearing their new coats. Hermione opened the door and called out that they'd arrived. Her mother instantly appeared at the kitchen door and ran to meet them as they entered the front hall.

"Oh, Hermione!" Mrs. Granger cried as she gathered her daughter into a hug. "How wonderful to see you! You look great."

"Thanks, mum. I think."

"You know that I meant you look happier away from that horrible man. And I understand that we have 'you' to thank for it, Harry. You are the best friend my daughter could ever have." She hugged him as well.

"Thank you," he muttered. He felt ashamed that he and Hermione were now keeping a secret about their friendship from everyone, including her parents. He just hoped that he was going to be able to keep his hormones under control, and his zipper zipped while he was in their house.

He didn't know why, but since their little escapade in the bathroom last evening, Harry had been unable to be around Hermione without becoming instantly stiff. He'd had to sit under a blanket with the complaint that he was cold even though the room was nearly stifling after dinner, and had gone to bed almost immediately after Ron's family had left.

To his horror, as Hermione passed him, she brushed against his arm and he had to pull away from her mother a bit more abruptly than was polite to keep her from feeling what that slight touch had done to him.

"I'll help you, Hermione," he said as an attempt to excuse his behavior. He grabbed two of their bags and followed Hermione up the staircase at the back of the hallway, leaving her mother scratching her ear in confusion.

"Is Harry in the room across from mine?" her daughter called as they reached the upper floor.

"Yes, I thought he'd be more comfortable there than having to share a room with your Uncle Byron," Mrs. Granger answered. Hermione led Harry to the room where he'd be staying for the week that they were going to be there and turned to face him as soon as he'd entered behind her.

"What was that about?" she asked defensively.

"What?"

"You acted like you didn't want my mum touching you, that's what."

"It wasn't that," he sighed, crossing the room and hauling one of the bags onto the bed. "I had a bit of a problem."

"What kind of a problem, Harry?" she asked, worried now.

"I don't know if I can tell you," he muttered.

"Why not? I'm one of your best friends. You can tell me anything, you know that."

"All right, I got hard while your mum was hugging me." Hermione burst out laughing.

"My mother made you...?" She pointed to him, and laughed harder. Harry shook his head.

"No! Not your mother."

"Then what happened?" she tittered.

"You." Hermione's laughter died instantly.

"Excuse me?"

"When you brushed up against my arm. That's what did it. My body is reacting instinctively, Hermione, and I'm trying to get control of it, but right now, for some reason, whenever you're around me, I'm hard as diamond, and there's no way to stop it." He turned to face her and her eyes dropped to the crotch of his jeans. Sure enough, there was an all-too-obvious bulge there.

"Harry," she whispered, looking up to see the embarrassment in his eyes.

"I don't mean for it to happen, it just does. How am I going to stop it?" He sank down onto the bed.

"We're just going to have to look really hard to get you a girlfriend fast," was all she could say, and she fled the room before the second pang of jealousy could override the ego boost she got from knowing that it was 'her' that had him in this constant state.


	14. Christmas Day

Stripped Bare- Chapter 14

Christmas Day

Discalaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

Hermione handed her father a present and picked up another. She turned the heavy parcel over until she could read the tag.

"This is Harry's," she grunted, holding it out to her mother. Mrs. Granger passed it to Harry and took the next gift, which was addressed to her. Hermione found one of her own presents and settled down on the floor with a huge grin. "Can we open them now?" she asked, sounding more excited than a child.

"Yes, since we all have a present," her father said. The air was filled with the sound of ripping paper and gasps of wonder, followed by 'thank you' and 'you're welcome'. Hermione glanced over to see what her parents had bought for Harry, and saw him reading the spine of one of her favorite books.

Funnily enough, it was the newest edition of 'Hogwarts: A History'. She laughed. Harry heard, looked up and saw that she was watching him. He smiled back and shifted position, his cheeks turning the faintest shade of pink. Hermione's grin turned sympathetic as she knew why he was uncomfortable and she looked back under the tree when he lay the book over his lap. Picking up a small square package, she read the tag, and handed it over to her mother, saying that it was for Uncle Byron.

"Harry, would you like to put your book on the side table?"

"Oh...no, that's all right," Hermione heard him answer her mother. "I'd like to hold onto it, maybe read a bit while Hermione's handing the presents out?" She laughed silently to herself. She knew why the book was in Harry's lap, and that he was more likely to ask Delores Umbridge and Rita Skeeter to dance than he was to open the cover.

When all the presents had been removed from under the tree, Hermione moved up to her original position, next to Harry. The tradition in her family was that they could open one present, then they had to wait until the rest were handed out to unwrap any more. She'd been giving over her presents to be placed by him so she didn't have to sit on the floor, surrounded by everyone's paper.

"Get these off of me!" he joked when she'd sat down. She thumped his shoulder and relieved him of the small pile of her presents that were on his lap, adding them to the rest around her feet. She caught the scent of his cologne and stopped to study him when she'd straightened up. He was wearing a new emerald jumper that Mrs. Weasley had knitted him, jeans and sneakers. Nothing out of the ordinary, but for some reason, she thought he looked delicious. He noticed her staring at him again and met her eyes.

"What? Do I have something on my cheek?" He brought his hand up to it.

"No."

"Then why do you keep staring at me?" He lowered his voice so no one would hear. "You know what happens to me when you're around, and knowing that you're watching me is making it even worse. I'm just glad that Mrs. Weasley made this a little too big." He touched the front of his jumper. "It covers up the problem when I'm standing."

He opened a present that was from her uncle, and held up the long dark green and black scarf that had been inside. "Hey! This will go great with Luna's present," he said. She laughed and turned back to her own gifts.

They were lugging their new belongings up the stairs an hour later, and Harry amusedly called Hermione's name just as she had emptied her arms, letting the whole lot she'd been carrying tumble onto her bed.

"Yes, Harry?" she asked when she'd appeared in his doorway.

"Did you notice most of the clothing I got for Christmas is green?" he chuckled. She walked over to the bed and examined his presents. Sure enough, he'd recieved the green and black scarf from her uncle, two green shirts from her parents, green socks from her cousin, it was if Harry was going to be able to support the Ireland Quidditch team with no problem next year. She heard him groan softly and stepped away from him.

"It 'does' look like everyone thinks green is your best color." She moved over by the window and saw a splash of color under one of Harry's shirts on the dresser. She looked more closely and saw that it was a wrapped box. "Who's this for?" she asked. He looked up to see what she was talking about.

"Oh!" he said. "It was to go under the tree, but I didn't think your parents would have wanted to see it." Hermione pulled it out from under the sweatshirt.

"It's for me?"

"Yeah. I had no idea of what to get you, Ron was no help, so that's the one that I'm not really sure you'll like." She tore the paper form the box and pulled off the lid. Inside lay a deep purple silk garment. She lay the box down on the dresser and lifted the fragile fabric. It unfolded to reveal it was a floor length negligée.

"Oh, Harry," she breathed, looking over to see him standing by the bed, nervously watching her. "It's gorgeous! I love it."

She rushed over to him and kissed his cheek. A sudden flash of desire in his eyes told her that she still needed to be careful with him. He was trying to learn to control his hormones and she had just gotten out of her relationship with Stephen. Plus, even though they'd had sex twice, she still regarded him as her best friend and didn't want to ruin it by falling into a relationship that had no future for either of them.

"Thank you," she whispered. He nodded with a hard swallow. "I'd better go and see if I can help with dinner." She backed away from him, turned and fled to the safety of her own room.


	15. Hermione's Solution To The Problem

Stripped Bare- Chapter 15

Hermione's Solution To The Problem

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

A knock sounded softly at Hermione's bedroom late that night. She asked who it was and Hrary stuck his head around the door.

"May I come in?" he asked.

"Of course," she grinned, putting aside the book she'd been reading. Harry stepped into her room and closed the door behind him

.

"I think we need to do something about what's happening between us."

"O.K. Do you think that one of us needs to move out of the flat?"

"No. I don't want that. You're my best friend, Hermione. It wouldn't be fair for either one of us to have to move just because I can't control the head between my legs."

"Yet." She patted the bed beside her. He joined her under the covers and lay back against the pillow.

"So what are we going to do?" she asked.

"I don't know. I feel like a fourteen-year-old again. It's embarrassing! I've been achingly hard for the last few days and I can't think anymore. If your family hasn't noticed by now, they're going to. You know that, don't you?"

"Yes, but there's only one solution I can think of other than one of us moving."

"You mean finding me a girlfriend."

"Two solutions, then. I was actually thinking that maybe we should give in to this."

"We?" Hermione nodded.

"Every time I smell your cologne I remember that night, and I want it again, Harry. I want it so badly. But here's the problem. We do this, and then when one of us gets into a relationship, the other one is going to be left out. Are you ready to deal with that possibility?" Harry frowned, thinking.

"Well, I don't see me actually getting a girlfriend in the near future, truth be told, Hermione. I'm too shy around women." Hermione snorted.

"Could have fooled me."

"It's different when I'm on the floor," He defended himself. "I'm not actually talking to them, and they aren't interested in 'me', just my body." He remembered Cameron's comments at the last show they'd done. "Did Cam ever ask you out?"

"Cam? Oh, Cameron! Yeah, he did, but he just seemed too conceited for me. I prefer my guys to be a bit more down to earth. He just reminded me of Stephen." She rolled her eyes. "What did I ever see in that fool?"

"I don't know. But from the way you're sounding, you don't see any prospects of a relationship in your future, either?"

"I guess not. I must be too picky."

"It's a good thing to be picky, Hermione. You could end up with another Stephen if you're not."

"Let's make a pact, Harry. We'll never mention that creep again, deal?" She held out her hand.

"Deal," he grinned bringing up his own hand to shake hers. She threw back the covers and got out of the bed, her ankle length flannel nightdress flowing around her legs. "Where are you going?" he asked her.

"I'm feeling just a bit warm. I'll be right back." She disappeared into the small dressing room, leaving Harry a bit bewildered. He leaned his head back to stare at the ceiling, and had just closed his eyes a minute later, when he heard Hermione clear her throat. He looked over to where she was standing and his heart jumped into his throat. She had changed into the negligée he'd given her, and it fit perfectly. One of the delicate straps slipped off her shoulder as she crossed to the bed, and he was treated to the sight of the top of her breast.

'Forget achingly hard,' he thought, 'I may never be able to think again!'

Hermione got back into the bed and beckoned him to her as the other strap slipped, revealing both of her breasts fully now. He went without hesitation, his mind almost completely gone now, the only thought able to form in his head being, 'Harry randy, Hermione sexy.'

"Harry, oh God, Harry," she whimpered as his mouth lavished attention on both of her hard peaks. One hand clutched at his head while the other fumbled for her wand on the bedside table. She finally located it and did the privacy charms, then took care of the contraception charm as well. She would have let him take care of it to help get him into the habit, but she didn't know if he would be able to say the incantation. With that done, she lay back on the pillows and let him do what he so desperately wanted to do.

Their clothes were on the floor a minute later, and Harry was between her thighs, lapping at the juices that started flowing as soon as he'd touched her when he'd gotten into her bed. Her back arched when his tongue brushed over her clit, her legs jumping from the shocks he was giving her. His body, lying next to her while he feasted on her box, was too much for her to resist. She caressed his legs, drawing him nearer to her so she would be able to reach her desire. As soon as he was close enough, her lips wrapped around his tip of their own accord. Her tongue scooped up the salty drop of moisture seeping from his tip, and he jerked and moaned.

For a few minutes, Hermione did nothing but run her tongue up and down his shaft, wanting to give him time to complete his objective, which seemed to be to make her crazy. He was doing a very good job of it, too. Finally she could take no more, and wanting to cum when he was inside her, she let him fall out of her mouth and pulled him up to her. He immediately entered her, and she screamed, her orgasm sending shocks of electricity through her arms and legs, and she saw fireworks as her eyes slammed shut. He slowly began to thrust in and out of her tight sheath, gasping with each stroke.

She pulled off his glasses, which were becoming streaked with his sweat, and lay them on the table with her wand and book, then wrapped her arms around his neck, and her legs around his hips. Being pulled deeper into her made him growl deep in his throat, and he began to increase his speed. Soon he was slamming into her and she was barking out her cries of pleasure. She was coming repeatedly and whimpered when it seemed that he was going to leave her, but he pulled back only to rise up onto his knees and lift her legs over his shoulders. Her hips raised off the bed and Harry slid a pillow underneath them to give him leverage as he resumed his delicious torture. His pace became frantic and soon he stiffened above and inside her, and with a gasping cry, she felt his cum start to spurt. He fell over onto his side, panting from the exertion, but his mind finally became clear enough for him to form coherent thoughts once more.

"Are you all right?" she asked. He nodded and swallowed.

"You know," he croaked, able to speak again. "You don't have to ask me every time we do this."

"Huh?"

"You asked me the first time, and now. Trust me, I'm fine. You don't have to worry about me, I'm always like this after I cum." He grinned at her.

"You have to mean when you masturbate, as I know I'm the only woman you've been with." Harry nodded. "I don't believe you."

"Why?"

"Well, I have no way of really knowing." She grinned wickedly. "So you're going to have to prove it, aren't you?"

His wide green eyes became enormous. "But, I can't..."

"I don't mean right this second, Harry. I know it'll be a few minutes," she giggled. "I can wait."

"There's 'that', too, but I meant that I can't do that in front of you."

"Why not?"

"I'd be too embarrassed," he blushed.

"After what we've done three times now, you'd be embarrassed to masturbate in front of me?"

His blush deepened. She moved over to him and began to whisper in his ear. His eyes closed as he listened to her describe all the things that she wanted to do to him, and he felt the familiar rush of blood heading straight for his groin.

"Please, Harry?" she breathed against his neck. "For me?" She felt him nod and shifted to lay against the pillows again.

He crawled up next to her and lay on his back. His hands began moving across his hips and around his rapidly hardening length. He grasped it around the base then slowly slid his hand up and down the shaft, tightening and loosening his grip while she watched. Before long, he was starting to pant, and his movements were becoming more insistant. His thumb swirled over the tip of his penis every so often, using his precum to lubricate the member in his hand.

Hermione could no longer stand to watch him and not assuage the hunger that had formed at her center. Her hand slid between her legs, spread her folds and she gasped when her fingers touched her aching clit. Harry heard the sound and turned his head to look at her, grinning widely when he saw what she was doing. She grinned back and turned her body to give him a better view. She was rewarded with a gasp and saw his hips jerk.

"Cum for me, Hermione," he whispered.

"If you will for me," she responded, feeling her orgasm almost on top of her. "I want to see you cum, Harry." He swallowed and nodded, his gaze still fixated on the hand feverishly stroking a path between her throbbing clit and soaked entrance.

"Oh, Merlin," he groaned, his own hand picking up speed and focusing on the head of his cock. He couldn't look away from her and knew that there was a great possibility that watching this was going to make him explode long before she came. A few seconds later though, Hermione began to whimper and keen. Harry's shifted his eyes to her face and saw that wonderful expression she made when she'd reached her pleasure peak. He tightened his hand and pumped faster as her eyes opened and met his. She brought the hand that had been working her little nub to her lips and licked the tips of eack finger. As he witnessed this, Harry's hips gave an enormous spasm and the thick jets of his cum shot onto his stomach, chest and throat.

"I guess you 'do' get a bit yumpy every time," Hermione giggled, seeing the same expression he'd had earlier.

"Yumpy? You wanna see yumpy?" Harry growled and jumped up to dive at her.

"Harry!" she squealed as he pinned her down with his body. "You're getting it all over me!" His lips fastened on the crook of her neck and she let out a soft gasp. "Oh my God," she sighed, all thoughts of the mess he'd made of her now out of her head.

"You like this?" Harry whispered against her skin. Her only reply was to tangle her fingers in his ebony hair. He slipped a hand between them, caressing her swollen sex, feeling the slickness of her arousal, his own returning as he grew hard yet again.

"Oh, Harry," she panted, "Please, please don't stop."

"Tell me what you want me to do."

"That'll be fine for the moment," Hermione giggled. He slid a finger into her tunnel. "Of course if you want to do that, I have no problem with it."

"I need you to tell me 'exactly' what you want me to do," he said, drawing the flesh of her neck between his teeth and suckling lightly on it.

"Then I want you inside me...now." He removed his hand and complied, both of them groaning their pleasure. "Slowly, Harry."

"How slow?" he murmured, beginning to move.

"Ah!" she cried out. He'd just brushed his pelvic bone against her hypersensitive skin. "I'm fine," she said, seeing the worried look he gave her. "But you keep doing that and you'll be peeling me off the ceiling."

"Doing what?" He repeated the move and her legs clenched around his hips.

"That!" she gasped, placing her hands on his chest to still him. "Maybe I should be on top this time."

"If you insist," he grinned and flipped them over. She began to move back and forth on top of him.

"Oh God, this isn't any better," she whimpered as a rapid succession of orgasms overtook her. "It feels so good, but I can't take much more of it!"

She rolled them over again and told Harry to do as he wished. This proved to be a mistake, but a happy one, as he began thrusting in and out of her with total abandon, driving her over the edge of that high peak faster and faster until she was a pool of nerve endings. Harry stiffened above her and she knew from his expression that he'd joined her once more in the bliss he'd been creating.

He collapsed and she wrapped her arms around his shoulders while their breathing and pulse rates returned to normal. Before hers had leveled, Harry rolled off to one side and gathered her close to him, kissed her neck and was asleep, breathing slowly and setting the rhythm for her to join him.


	16. Letter From Oliver

Stripped Bare- Chapter 16

Letter From Oliver

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter

"Finally!" Harry cried as he read the letter he'd been sent by owl that morning.

"What?" Ron asked from the sofa.

"Oliver is back in England and he's just about finished the prototype for the Hurricane. He wants me to be at Quality Quidditch Supplies at noon to view it."

"Are they really giving you the first one when they release it?"

"That's what the broom maker said. He didn't know who I was, Ron," he answered. "And he was just really possesive and secretive about what he was working on, that's all. He didn't do it to be rude."

"Seemed plenty rude to me," Ron muttered, folding up his letter. "And how could he _not_ know who you are?"

"Well, I _do_ need a haircut," Harry said, brushing his fringe from his eyes. "I've been so busy over the last few months, I haven't had time to get around to it." He looked in the mirror and grimaced when he saw that his hair was to his shoulders. The last time he'd let it get that long was when he, Ron and Hermione had been in hiding four years previously. Since then, he'd made appointments every month just to keep it from getting out of hand again.

"Harry, mate, you could still see your scar. He was just being a git and should have gotten sacked."

"The Cannons got new shin guards that day," Harry reminded Ron.

"Yeah, well."

"I'm going to see if I can get in today to get this fixed." He brushed his hair back again. "Wanna come with? I'll buy lunch."

"What about Hermione?" Harry thought for a second.

"We _should_ get her out of here for a while. She's been working much too hard these last few weeks. I'll go ask her now." He left Ron to get ready to go and headed to the bedrooms. Hermione was sitting at her desk, writing in a book.

"Hermione?" She slammed the book shut and spun around to face Harry.

"What?" she asked, a little harshly.

"I'm, uh, sorry to bother you," Harry said, feeling a bit hurt that she didn't seem to want _anyone_ to disturb her, not even her best friends.

"It's all right, Harry. I didn't mean to snap at you, I was just really absorbed in my work, is all," she apologized. He looked over her desk, saw that the parchments she'd needed for her Ministry assignments were neatly stacked on one corner, and knew that she'd not been telling him the whole truth. He smiled though, letting her think that she'd gotten past him with her lie. "Did you need something?" Hermione asked.

"Ron and I are going to Diagon Alley for a while and thought that you might like to come with us?" She looked towards the book hesitantly. "Of course, if you don't want to," he continued, "we'll understand, it's just that we wanted to make today a _trio_ thing. Like we used to do at Hogwarts?" That wasn't true, and Harry knew it, but he didn't want her sitting inside on one of the few sunny days that they'd had since January had started.

"Yes, I'd love to go," Hermione said, smiling at him as she stood from her chair. "I just need to change." She indicated her pajamas, which Harry found a bit peculiar. Hermione _never_ sat around the flat in her pajamas, she was always the first one dressed. But then, she was getting farther and farther into the emotional slump she'd been in back in September. He nodded and smiled at her before going back to the living room.

"She coming?" Ron asked.

"Yeah. She's just changing."

"Is she in her pajamas again?"

"What do you mean, _again_?"

"She's been spending more and more time in them than in her regular clothes. I can't believe you haven't noticed."

"Ron, I've been working a lot of hours at the Ministry, and Mitch has scheduled a more shows than usual since it's the start of a new year. I haven't really been home."

"That's true." They glanced towards the hallway to make sure that Hermione wasn't coming yet. "Seems Hermione has been getting interested in another guy. But he doesn't like her, I guess, so she's depressed about it. That's what Ginny said, anyway."

"How can anyone not like Hermione?" Harry felt a tug of jealousy to his surprise, but wrote it off as brotherly protection. That, or he was in danger of losing his source of sex. That thought made him blush, he turned from Ron to hide it, grabbing the coat he'd received from Luna from the closet.

"Got me, but she needs this lunch to make her feel better. And she needs to get a date. Not this guy she fancies, of course. How about one of the guys from the group you dance with?"

"The only one that showed any interest in her was Cameron, and he's not the kind of guy I'd want to see Hermione get involved with. He's got more girlfriends than there are days in the year."

"Oh, well then...what about...you?" Harry froze and turned wide eyes to Ron.

"Me?" he croaked.

"Yeah, I'd do it, but I'm with Luna so that's a no-go. If you can't think of anyone..."

"Think of anyone for what?" Hermione asked, coming into the room.

"Nothing," Ron said quickly. "Just wondering about getting Harry a date is all." Hermione flinched.

"I'm sorry about that, Harry. I promised that I would help you find a girlfriend and I haven't done anything yet." She walked over to Harry and wrapped an arm around his shoulder, squeezing him tightly.

"Why on earth did you promise that?"

"Because Harry hasn't had a girlfriend since Ginny and I wanted to help him out as he's so shy around women." Harry grinned sheepishly at Ron.

"Thank you for the help, Hermione," he said. getting her coat out and helping her on with it.

"Like I said, Harry. I haven't done anything yet. But I'm going to start today! Now let's go to lunch already. I'm starved!" She headed out the door, leaving Harry and Ron staring after her, confused as to what was going on with their friend.


	17. The Hurricane

Stripped Bare- Chapter 17

The Hurricane

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

Author's Note: I checked online and England does use MPH. They also have KPH, but I wasn't able to figure out a speed that didn't sound more ridiculous than what I've written.

"How much longer is this going to take?" Ron whined as he and Hermione waited for Harry's haircut to finish. "I'm starving and Harry has to get to that meeting with the bloke from Quality Quidditch Supplies."

"Ron, is that all you think about? Your stomach?" Hermione asked as she turned the page in the magazine she was reading.

"If Harry hadn't insisted on coming to this Muggle place, we'd be in Diagon Alley by now!" Ron's voice had gotten louder.

"Shush, Weasley! We're the only ones here that aren't Muggles, and we don't need to be announcing it!" Hermione hissed. She looked up towards the direction that Harry had been taken. She saw him sitting in the last chair by the wall, covered from his neck down in a plastic apron, his glasses gone, apparently put aside somewhere to keep them from being in the way. The stylist was drying his hair at the moment while she ran a soft bristled brush through it. "He's almost done." As soon as the words left her mouth, the apron was removed from Harry and he was handed his glasses.

"You two ready to go?" he asked as he came over to them, picking up his coat and moving to the counter to pay the stylist. Hermione felt her breath catch. She'd seen Harry when he'd come back from having his hair cut before, but it hit her in the gut all of a sudden how attractive he was. Without his fringe in his eyes now, she could see their brilliant emerald color, and it made her dizzy. Ron noticed and steadied her with a hand on her elbow.

"You O.K?"

"Yeah, guess I just really need to eat," she chuckled. She followed him and Harry out of the salon and to the place where they'd be Apparating to the Leaky Cauldron, Ron giving her anxious glances the whole way.

"Lunch first, I take it?" Harry said when they'd arrived at their destination. Ron and Hermione nodded. "Here or at Florean Fortescue's?" Hermione sat down at the table closest to them, and Harry laughed. "Here it is, then." He and Ron joined her and gave their orders as soon as Tom came over. They ate quickly as they had to get to Quality Quidditch Supplies within the hour, and soon were standing at the brick wall that led to Diagon Alley.

"All right, Hermione," Ron said as they followed through the archway. "What's going on?"

"What are you talking about, Ron?"

"You're acting all wierd, that's what I'm talking about. I know! You're going to meet the bloke you fancy today, aren't you?"

"You need a hobby, Ron." She sped up to fall into step with Harry. He led them into the shop and they waited for the same woman that had been buying a broom when he and Ron had been there with Oliver's letter to decide what wrist guards she was going to buy.

"Harry, this woman is always in here, and she holds up the line every time," Ron grumbled in his friend's ear.

"I'm sure it's not every time," Harry replied, seeing Oliver appear from the back of the shop. He waved and they were beckoned into the work area.

"Here it is, Harry," Oliver said when they'd gathered around the table. He held out the ebony handled broom for Harry to take.

"Boy, it's really light!"

"Yeah, it has to be to reach the speeds we're going to be advertising. But don't worry. It's passed all the handling tests with flying colors, if you'll excuse the pun."

"What does it reach?"

"We clocked it at one hundred eighty mph in three seconds. And that may not be its top speed." Three jaws dropped.

"Merlin, Oliver! At that speed, I'd be able to catch a Snitch on one side of the pitch less than half a second after I spot it from the other!"

"That's the point," Oliver grinned slyly. "But Hogwarts students aren't going to be allowed them. We've agreed on that." He indicated the broom maker standing proudly in the corner of the room. "There's going to be an age limit on this broom. You have to be eighteen and out of school to buy it."

"Why the limit?" Hermione asked.

"We don't want to be held responsible by parents for a lot of accidents that the younger witches and wizards can get into. They don't tend to want to be careful, just interested in the speed."

"You said that one eighty may not be its limit?" Oliver nodded.

"That's where you come in," he said.

"Huh?"

"We are going to give you this prototype for a month to put it through its paces. Push it as hard as you can, fly it all over Britian and let us know when you come back how it really performs," spoke up the broom maker. Harry nodded and handed the broom back to Oliver so it could be wrapped. They left the shop ten minutes later with the broom, and headed to Flourish and Blotts so Hermione could look for a book that she'd been wanting to read.

Ron pointed out that they were going to need a bigger flat if she bought too many more books.

"That's what I told you in December. You know, when you wanted to get her a book for Christmas?" Harry chuckled.

"That was me shopping for 'one' book. She's been set loose in Flourish and Blotts, and we're gonna need a hippogriff to get our packages home!" He pointed to where their friend was now standing, holding a large stack of books and talking to a man that Harry had never seen before. He frowned and without a thought or a word to Ron, stormed over to her side.

"So you think we could have dinner next weekend?" the guy was saying as Harry reached them.

"I don't know, Ryan, I just broke up with my fiancé a few months ago. I'm not really ready to start dating yet." She turned and saw Harry. "Oh! Harry, I'd like you to meet one of my coworkers from the Ministry, Ryan Harner. Ryan, I probably don't need to introduce..."

"Harry Potter," Harry said, holding out his hand and gripping Ryan's a bit more tightly than neccessary.

"You know each other?" Ryan asked incredulously.

"We went to school at Hogwarts together," Hermione informed him. "Harry, let go." He looked down and saw that he was still holding onto the other man's hand.

"Hermione, we need to get going if we're going to make that appointment," he said.

"What appointment?" He met her eyes with a pointed expression. "Oh!" she said, catching his meaning. "The appointment! You're right, we'd better hurry. Ryan, I'll see you at the Ministry on Monday." She paid for her books and followed Harry and a totally confused Ron back to the Leaky Cauldron.

When they had Apparated back to the flat, she dropped the books on a chair and spun on Harry.

"What was that all about?"

"That guy was only after one thing, and you know it, Hermione," was her answer before Harry stalked off to his bedroom and slammed the door.


	18. I Want To Talk To You

Stripped Bare- Chapter 18

I Want To Talk To You

Hermione scowled as she passed Harry's room. She was waiting for him to apologize for his behavior the previous week, but he hadn't spoken one word to her since he'd stormed off to his room, leaving her and Ron staring after him in confusion, and in her case, fury. All she and Ryan had been doing was talking, and even though she'd tried to explain that to Harry that evening, he'd not opened his door, and she became even angrier with him. He was acting like an idiot, like a prat, like he was... She froze just as she reached her own room.

_**Like he was jealous,**_ she thought, turning around and staring back in the direction she'd just come from. Could it be possible? _Had_ Harry been jealous of Ryan? She started back down the hall to his door, but had made it only three steps when he came out of his room, carrying his costume for his troupe's shows. He walked out to the living room, tossed the duffel onto a chair and turned to go into the kitchen. She heard him talking to Ron and Luna as she moved past the swinging door and sat down on top of Harry's bag. She wasn't going to let him leave without talking to her as well.

"So I'll be back around midnight," Harry said over his shoulder, coming back into the room and stopped dead in his tracks when he saw Hermione.

"We need to talk," she said.

"I'm really late right now, Hermione," he answered, gesturing impatiently for her to get up. She didn't move.

"Then when you get back."

"I don't know when that'll be."

"You just told Ron around midnight." He frowned.

"Come on, get up. I have to go, and I need my bag." She remained in the chair.

"Not until you agree to talk to me, Harry."

"We really don't have anything to say, Hermione."

"I think we do, and I'm not moving until you say we'll talk." She crossed her arms and her legs, settling back in the chair.

"Dammit, Hermione! I have to be at the show in..." He looked at the clock. "Ten minutes, and I go on first tonight, now give me my bag!" Hermione smiled past him, and Harry looked over his shoulder to see Ron and Luna standing in the kitchen doorway, apparently curious to know what the shouting was about.

"What's going on?" Ron asked.

"Hermione won't give me my bag and I'm running _very_ late!" Harry growled. Hermione just smiled.

"All he has to do is agree to talk to me, and I'll move."

"There must be Sharzpugs in this room," Luna said. Three heads turned to her. "They speed up time and make you feel like you'll never catch up with all that you're supposed to do."

"I don't think it's Sharzpugs, Luna," Ron muttered, trying not to laugh.

"Hermione, come on! I have to go!"

"Tell me that we're going to talk when you get back."

"All right! We'll talk when I get back!" He looked at the clock again. Three minutes till the show started. Hermione reached under her and pulled out the bag. Harry grabbed it. "Mitch is going to chew my arse off tonight," he muttered as he rushed to the Apparition spot and disappeared.

"Well!" Hermione chriped, standing up and clapping her hands together. "I'm starved! Who wants pizza?"


	19. Boosting Harry's Confidence

Stripped Bare- Chapter 19

Boosting Harry's Confidence

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

Hermione looked at her watch then to the clock. Twenty after one. She was willing to believe the show had run over, these things 'could' happen in his line of work, but she was getting restless, and more than a little frustrated. She sat in a chair and crossed her legs and arms. She kept glancing at the clock over the course of the next ten minutes and was about to give up on waiting for Harry and go to bed when she heard the soft pop announcing that he'd arrived home.

"There you are," she said softly.

"Hermione, I'm exhausted right now. Couldn't we just talk in the morning?"

"Harry, you said you would talk to me tonight." She got up from the chair and followed him to his room. "And you know that I have to be at the ministry early."

"That's right, you do," he sighed, remembering her saying that afternoon she had a meeting with the head of her department at eight the next day. "What about tomorrow afternoon?"

"What about _now_?" Harry cringed. She could tell that he was hoping to put it off for as long as possible, and she wasn't going to let him.

"I don't feel like talking now," he whispered, almost too low for her to hear. He turned away and moved to his window. Hermione frowned and shut the door, then walked over to stand behind him.

"Harry, come on. You _promised_ that we would talk when you got home tonight, and I waited up for you. Now we _really_ need to do this."

"I was only telling you that so you would give me my bag." He turned his head to look at her, and saw she was stunned. "You said that all I had to do to get it was agree to talk to you tonight. I never had any intention of actually doing it. I just wanted my bag."

He turned back to the window when he saw tears begin to form in her eyes. He knew he'd just hurt her, but he didn't want to be forced into telling her the truth about what was going on with him at the moment, and knew that she'd somehow bring it up.

"You _lied_ to me?" she said, gulping back a sob. Harry nodded and forced himself not to hang his head in shame. "I can't believe you did that. To _me_, one of your best friends!" Harry spun and faced her.

"I needed the bag and you wouldn't get off of it. What else was I supposed to do!"

"Definitely not that, Harry," she wiped the tears that started sliding down her cheeks, and Harry felt even worse about lying to her now than he already had. "I _did_ tell you that was all you had to do, but you didn't _mean_ it. I don't know if I'll be able to trust you again." She turned around and slowly walked to his door, wiping her eyes the whole way. "All I wanted to talk about is why you seemed jealous of someone that I work with."

"Because I _was_ jealous." The words were out before he could stop them. Hermione halted and looked back at him curiously. Harry knew that he was too close to admitting his true feelings and frantically tried to make up an excuse for having told her that.

"You were?" she asked, returning to her original position. "Why?" She watched him swallow with difficulty a few times.

"Because..." His mind came upon a reason at last. "I was afraid that if you started going with that guy, I would lose the only way that I was going to be having sex."

"Oh, that's nice, Harry. Real nice. Makes me feel great to know you think of me as your source of sex. Thanks a lot." She stomped over to his bed and flopped down on it.

"I didn't mean it that way," he ammended, sitting beside her. She pulled away when he tried to take her hand. "It's just that after the agreement we came upon at your parents, we've had a more _physical_ relationship, and I was afraid that you wouldn't be wanting to help me find a girlfriend if you started with a new bloke."

"You know, that's not sounding a whole lot better than what you originally said. It sounds like you don't think that I _want_ to help you, and I told Ryan that it was too soon for me to have another boyfriend at the moment. It sounds to me like you think that I'm going to be the one doing all the work finding you a girlfriend, Harry. And what does our physical relationship have to do with any of that?"

"Well, I still need practice, don't I?" he grinned shyly at her.

"Yes, I will admit that, but not with the sex part of it. You need to practice asking a girl out. Talking to them, looking them in the eye. I've noticed you have a lot of problem with that lately. Why?"

"I don't know. I never had this problem at Hogwarts, did I?"

"Not to this extent, no. But you _were_ shy around girls. It took you forever to ask Cho Chang to the Yule Ball, and then it was too late, she went with Cedric. Then you asked Parvati, and you only danced the first dance with her. But in sixth year, you did ask Luna to go with you to Slughorn's Christmas party, so that was good." She thought for a second. "I wonder why you and Ginny didn't get back together?"

"You know why. Because of what happened on my seventeenth birthday. You remember, when Ron accused me of messing her about?" Hermione nodded. "Ginny decided she wanted nothing more to do with me, and moved on to Seamus."

"But didn't you try to explain to her why you'd said it?"

"What was the point? By the time I got the chance, she had moved on to Seamus. I didn't want to ruin it for them by telling her that I hadn't meant what I'd said to Ron. At least not the way it sounded. I thought I wasn't going to have a chance to have a life with her in the future, but by the time it was all over and we'd graduated from Hogwarts with Ginny's year, I found that it really didn't hurt anymore when I saw the two of them together. In fact, I was happy for them and told them so."

"But what if you and Ginny were meant to be together?"

"Hermione, if that were so, she would have talked to me about what I'd said, and then waited for me to come back. Luna said that Ginny and Seamus had hooked up less than two months after they'd returned to Hogwarts." He stood up and walked to the other side of the room, his hands in the back pockets of his jeans. "And I know it's my fault that I didn't tell her the way I'd really meant what I'd said, but I _did_ get over her. I'm just too shy to approach another girl and ask her out."

"Yes, that does seem to be your problem. Do you think it's because you had been thrown over by Ginny?"

"She didn't throw me over, Hermione. We'd been split up since before the end of sixth year. You know that."

"I meant the fact that she got with Seamus when there might have been a chance that the two of you could get back together. That had to hurt you deeply. Maybe you're just afraid it's going to happen again?"

"That could be," Harry mused, turning back to Hermione. "So what do I do?"

"Well, the first thing is, get out there and find someone that you like, and then get up the courage to ask her out for Godric's sake!" She got up and moved over to him. "You're Harry Potter! And are you a Gryffindor or not?" She put her hands on his shoulders and gave him a little shake. He laughed.

"You're right, Hermione," he said. "I 'am' a Gryffindor. And I know I can do this!" He hugged her tightly for a second. "Thank you for being such a good friend and helping me with this." Hermione smiled and bade him good night.

The problem with this resolution was that as soon as Hermione had closed Harry's door on her way out was that Harry's face fell at the thought of going out with another girl and that the one he liked didn't seem to feel the same about _him._

When Hermione reached her own room, the tears that had been threatening to fall for the last few minutes from the thought of Harry asking another girl out began running heavily down Hermione's cheeks as she slid down her door and buried her face in her hands.


	20. Ron Gets Involved

Stripped Bare- Chapter 20

Ron Gets Involved

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

Ron noticed over the course of the next two weeks that his two best friends were avoiding each other even more than they'd been since the incident with Ryan at Flourish and Blotts. Hermione went to the ministry, out with Ginny and their friends, and stayed in her room most of the time when she was home. Harry went to the minstry, danced in a show or two, and rode the prototype broom Oliver Wood had given him up and down the countryside. It was nearly time for them to go back to Quality Quidditch Supplies and give the results of the trials Harry'd been instructed to run the Hurricane through. Harry'd not told Ron anything about how it was going, and Ron hadn't asked. Especially since the last time he'd asked Harry anything at all, his raven-haired friend had nearly bitten his head off!

At the moment, all three of them were home, Harry in the living room, sitting on the couch and writing out his latest findings for an assignment at the ministry, Hermione, of course in her room, and Ron standing at the kitchen door, looking back and forth from Harry to Hermione's bedroom door in confusion.

"Ron, either sit down and stop acting like a tennis spectator, or tell me what the bloody hell is bothering you," Harry said without looking up from his parchment.

"All right," Ron answered, moving to the chair opposite his friend. "I want to know what's going on?"

"What do you mean?" Harry asked, still scrawling on his assignment.

"You know what I mean, Harry! You and Hermione."

"I don't want to talk about it. I told you that the other day."

"But..."

"Ron, look. It's between me and Hermione, and it's really none of your business."

"Is it still because of that Ryan bloke?" He saw Harry flinch slightly. "That's it, isn't it?"

"No, that's not it, and I'll thank you to just stay out of it."

"So the guy was interested in Hermione. What's so bad about that? He couldn't be any worse than that git she was going to marry. But you stormed over there and acted like it was a federal offense for anyone to talk to her but...Oh my God." Ron realized what was going on now. "Harry, _you_ fancy Hermione, don't you?" Harry threw down his quill in disgust.

"No, and I told you to stay out of it!" Harry snapped, slumping against the back of the couch. Ron saw the look in his eyes and smiled knowingly.

"Harry," he challenged, crossing his arms.

"I don't fancy Hermione, Ron! I don't." He leaned forward to pick up the quill again and met Ron's blue eyes. The redhead's expression hadn't changed. "I don't!" Harry loaded the point with ink from the well in front of him and began his work once more, then feeling Ron still watching him, he looked back up. He dropped the quill with a sigh and sat back, a heartbroken look on his face. "I do. I _do_ fancy Hermione. Hell, Ron, I _love_ her!"

"Then why don't you tell her?" Ron smiled back.

"You're not upset about it?"

"No. I knew one day you were going to realize that you loved Hermione, mate. I've known since you and Ginny broke up, even if _you_ didn't."

"Then why did you ask me about the reason Ginny and I didn't get back together!"

"Because you had to think about what had happened, Harry. You and Ginny didn't work out because you weren't right for each other. Sure, you were happy when you were together, but didn't you have the feeling that there should have been _more_ to your relationship?"

"What!" Harry asked, now totally lost. "What are you talking about?"

"When you were with Ginny, was she the first thing you thought of every morning, and the last thing at night?" Harry shook his head.

"I was trying to think of where the horcruxes were and how to get that memory from Slughorn, Ron."

"Exactly! You were still thinking about what it was that you had to do, and Ginny was forever going on about her O.W.L. exams. How she had to study, wondering if she was going to fail the ones she needed to continue her chosen classes for her sixth year, what she was going to do if she _didn't_ pass them, you get the picture." Harry nodded, still not understanding what his friend was on about. "She got with Seamus, and she didn't think about anything else. She told me she was writing his name all over her books, and daydreaming about him when they weren't together. She never said that about you, mate."

"So what? She had her exams to get through, Ron."

"Harry, I saw her books when she was studying. Your name wasn't on them _once_. I think she was just thrilled with the idea of being connected with you as more than a friend. She knew the other girls in the school would be jealous."

"You mean she was using me, then?" Harry said, frowning.

"No, I mean she was just wanting the attention she didn't get when we were at home. She wanted to be famous for something other than just being the only girl in a family of boys, and you gave her that."

"Then she was using me."

"No," Ron repeated. "She wasn't using you. She really believed that she was in love with you at the time, but told Luna after Bill and Fleur's wedding that she was sort of relieved that the two of you had split up. She couldn't really handle the pressure of dating Harry Potter."

"What pressure? I never put any pressure on her!"

"Not you. The other girls. They wanted to know what it was like to kiss you, whether the two of you had slept together, that kind of pressure. She couldn't take it anymore, and felt like the weight had been taken off her when she heard what you said in the garden on your birthday. About how nothing like that kiss was going to happen again? She felt free to move on."

"All right, but what does that have to do with me and Hermione?"

"Do you think about _Hermione_ all the time?"

"Oh, yes," Harry sighed, a small smile forming on his face.

"How long have you been doing that?"

"I don't know, for a while, I guess."

"Since about the time she was starting with Stephen?"

Harry thought for a second, and his eyes widened with horror as he realized that Ron really _had_ known what he, Harry, had been feeling all along! He now remembered when Hermione had helped him rehearse that night, the feeling of euphoria he'd gotten from her not saying that he was like a brother to her when he'd first asked her what she would have done if the two of them were getting married, and wondering why he'd revoiced the question after she'd left his room. This was followed by the memory of how they had fallen into each other's arms after his next show and all the times they'd been together since. But something was wrong here. It took Harry a second to think what it was.

"Hang on. Ginny felt free to move on after you and I fought in the garden? Then why did she get so mad at me and tell me she wanted nothing more to do with me?"

"She wanted to make sure you didn't think you had a chance with her later." They heard footsteps coming down the hall. "So, are you going to tell her?"

"Are you mad! She'd laugh in my face," Harry replied desperately. "Ron, please, don't say anything!" he added when the redhead turned to greet Hermione.

"Don't say anything about what?" she said when she'd entered the living room and returned Ron's smile.

"Oh, nothing. Just discussing the tests that Harry's been putting that prototype broom through."

"Oh," Hermione said and went into the kitchen.

"Thank you," Harry breathed with relief.

"Well, since I did that for you, now you _have_ to talk about how the broom's doing."

"It's great. I can go from here to...oh, let's say the Burrow, in less than ten minutes, the thing goes so fast."

"It would still be faster to Apparate there."

"I know that, but that's nearly ten times faster than the Firebolt, and twenty times faster than Malfoy's old Nimbus." He chuckled as he remembered the last time he'd seen Malfoy. "You know, he's still trying to get that book of his printed?"

"The one that states his father was only following Voldemort under the Imperius Curse? Yeah, yeah. Like anyone would ever believe that. He's just trying to clear his name now that Malfoy Manor has gone downhill and he can't get a job anywhere, even the Muggle world. Not that he'd look for one there anyway, but it's still nice to know." Hermione came back out of the kitchen, a cup of tea in her hand.

"Talking about Malfoy's book now?" she asked Ron. He nodded. "Rumor has it that Rita Skeeter is going to ask a friend of hers at the Prophet if they can't start running excerpts once a week."

"Are they mad?" Harry asked. Hermione turned and headed back off to her room. His face fell when he heard her door shut. "She didn't even _look _at me, Ron."

"What did you do?"

"Nothing! That's the point! I came home the other night, and we talked like she wanted, and ever since, she's been giving me the cold shoulder."

"Why don't you go to her room and see what happens?"

"Ron, if she won't talk to me in front of you or anyone else, what makes you think that she's going to if we're alone?" He looked at the clock, and stood up. "And I have to start getting ready to go. I have a show tonight." He gathered up his parchment, quill and ink, and carried them to his room, pausing briefly to look down to Hermione's closed door and sigh.

"I have the most brilliant idea!" Ron chuckled to himself as his friend closed his door, and hurried to the kitchen to make a phone call.


	21. At The Show Again

Stripped Bare- Chapter 21

At The Show Again

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

Ginny and Kailah dragged Hermione by her arms to the table and made her sit down. Maureen, Andrea, Luna and Ron took seats around her and grinned.

"What is going on?" Hermione asked. "Why did you bring me here?"

"You need to get out and have some fun, Ducks," Kailah said. "It's a Friday night, and we haven't seen you in a while."

"O.K., but why are _you_ here, Ron? Do you _really_ want to hang around with a bunch of women?"

"I'm here with Luna." He shrugged.

"You're going to spend an evening in a pub with six women? Wouldn't you rather go somewhere with Harry and your brothers?"

"Harry's busy tonight, and my brothers didn't want to do anything. But don't worry, I'm not staying, I have stuff to do at home. "

"Harry's busy? Doing what?" Ron shrugged again.

"He didn't say." Hermione looked at him suspiciously.

"What's going on?" she asked, looking around her friends.

"Nothing," said Andrea. "Ron told Ginny that you'd been moping around your flat for the last two weeks, and they agreed you needed to get out for a while." Ginny nodded instantly. The door opened and Hermione looked towards it. Her jaw dropped when she saw who had entered the building.

"Oh, no!" she said, moving to stand up. "I am not staying here and watching Harry dance!" She started for the back door. Ginny turned to look over her shoulder and swore.

"That's Mitch, the leader of the Kings of Hearts," she told her brother and Luna. "Stop her!" Ron jumped up and grabbed Hermione around the waist, hauling her back to the table and forcing her back into her seat.

"Just because Mitch is here, doesn't mean that they're dancing," said Maureen, also turning to the front. Cameron and Shane entered, carrying some of the equipment.

"All right, _t__hat_ means they're dancing," she added. The rest of the guys- Tyler, Jason, Kendall and Brenden- followed right behind, bringing in the remainder of the sound system. The only one missing, Hermione noticed, was Harry.

"I don't think he's dancing tonight, Hermione," Andrea said, but she covered her face as soon as the words were out of her mouth. Harry had just walked in the door, carrying a large blue CD case.

"Why are you doing this to me!" Hermione growled at her as the seven guys started helping Mitch set up the stage.

"We're not doing anything to you, we just thought you'd want to get out and maybe have a drink somewhere. This just happens to be the closest bar to your flat. We didn't know that the Kings of Hearts were going to be here tonight." Ron tightened his grip on Hermione's shoulders to keep her in the chair as she attempted to bolt for the door again.

"I don't believe you," she spat. "At least _one_ of you had to know that they were going to be here!" Kailah looked guilty.

"Hey! I have Mitch's Email address, all right? I just sent him a message asking whether they had a show tonight. He's the one that told me they were going to be here." She began fiddling with the strap of her handbag. "And I wouldn't have done if Ron hadn't called me and asked me if I knew where they were going to be tonight." Ron glared at her as Hermione's head snapped in his direction.

"_Ron_ knew they were dancing tonight?"

"Harry told me something earlier, right before you came into the living room, and I think he needs to tell you. He's too scared to do it, because he thinks you'll be mad at him. I was about to try and talk him into it when he said he had to get ready for the show tonight."

"Let go of me! I want to go home!" Hermione struggled against Ron's hands.

"Honey," Andrea reached out and touched her friend's arm. "You've been avoiding Harry like the plague for a fortnight. Don't you think it's time the two of you talked?" Hermione stilled.

"I just don't know what to say to him anymore," she said sadly. "So much has changed in our relationship."

"Like what?" asked Ron, now moving back to his chair. None of them found out what, because Harry had noticed them and was now making his way to the table.

"Hi, everyone," he said, and raised an eyebrow at Ron. "Bit weird for _you_ to be here isn't it?" he asked the redhead.

"I'm only here for Luna."

"Who's on first tonight, Harry?" Kailah asked, nudging Hermione in the side.

"I think Jason is, but I'd have to check," Harry replied, grinning across the table at her. "Are you _really_ going to stay here and watch the show, Ron?"

"No, I'm just here for a minute. Luna is new to this and doesn't want me to leave." Luna verified this by grabbing Ron's arm and scooting closer to him.

"We're not going to hurt you, Luna. Whatever these girls have told you," he looked around at the other women at the table. "It's probably not true. Well, some of it is, but not all," he joked.

"You're not going to turn me upside down like a Trundlecark?" Luna said.

"I don't know what a Trundlecark is, but as for turning you upside down, I don't do that. That's Kendall. I can tell him not to do it to you if you want?" She nodded, but still looked apprehensive. "Anything else?"

"About the tickets..." she said hesitantly.

"You don't have to buy them if you don't want to. You can even have the guys leave you alone entirely if you want. Just tell me and I'll let them know. We don't want you to be uncomfortable."

"I think she'll be fine once the show starts," Ron said, standing. "She's never been around something like this before. Remember, she's a Pureblood."

"So are you and Ginny," Hermione piped up, surprising Harry. She'd been silent through the whole conversation.

"Yes, but _we_ live in the Muggle world remember?" said Ginny. "We know about this stuff. Luna still lives with her father." Harry leaned in closer to Hermione when the other girls started telling Luna about some of the Muggle drinks she needed to try.

"Can we talk later?" he whispered in her ear. "I have something I want to ask you." She made a short noise of agreement and joined in the drink conversation without looking at him. He turned to Ron, who shrugged with a small smile as he left.

Harry nodded, his hopes rising slightly, and walked back to the front of the bar.


	22. Getting Up His Nerve

Stripped Bare- Chapter 22

Getting Up His Nerve

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

Hermione looked up as Harry knocked on the frame of her open door. She turned back to the basket of laundry she was putting away without inviting him in.

"Hermione?" he said. "Can I talk to you now?"

"Sure, Harry," she answered shortly. "You can tell me what you wanted to ask me, I can give you my answer, and then I can go to bed."

"Are you angry at me?"

"Is that what you wanted to ask? You could have done that at the show."

"No, that's not it, I'm just wondering if you are."

"A bit, Harry."

"Why? What did I do?" He walked into the room and met her gaze in the mirror on the wall.

"Oh, not much," was her cryptic answer, she said, looking back down at her hands.

"Hermione, please. Tell me what I did?" She threw down the garment she'd been holding and rounded on him.

"You still expect me to find you a girlfriend, that's what!"

"Excuse me?" Harry was totally lost as to why this was making her upset. "I don't expect you to find me a girlfriend anymore."

"You don't?" she crossed her arms in disbelief.

"No. In fact, I want to thank you for helping me get up the courage to ask out the girl I like." He grinned at her stunned expression.

"Y-y-you've asked a g-girl out?" she stammered.

"No, not yet. But I'm getting to it. I just need to get her to talk to me." He moved back to the door and closed it. "You see, I've been fighting how I've felt about this girl for a long time now, because I didn't think that she liked me. And finally, I figured, what the hell? If she turns me down, I still got up the nerve to ask, and I'd be no worse off for her rejection, right?" Hermione nodded silently. "I was talking to Ron today about it, and that just clinched it for me. You tried to help me get my nerve and _he_ convinced me that I actually _have_ it!"

"What?" she asked in confusion.

"My nerve! Ron told me that I fancied this girl a long time ago, but I had to admit it to myself. Once I did that, I realized I already _had_ the courage to ask her out!" He grinned broadly. "So now I just have to do it. Although, I have to admit, I am a bit nervous." Hermione turned back to the basket again.

"Well, I'm happy for you, Harry," she said, her heart shattering in her chest. She lowered her head so he wouldn't see her tears. "So, you need me to get her to talk to you? Is that what you wanted to ask?"

"No. What I wanted to ask you is.." He paused for a second and took a deep breath. "Hermione, would you go out with me?" She gasped audibly, and froze in place.

"What?" she gasped. "What did you say?" Harry walked across to her and turned her around.

"I asked if you would go out with me, Hermione Granger," he said, lifting her chin to look into her eyes.

"Harry, you don't want to go out with me," she scoffed. "You're just trying to make a point."

"And what would that be?"

"That you can get the courage to ask the girl you like out."

"I thought I just did that."

"You're serious?" Harry nodded. "You really want to go out with me?" Another nod.

"So will you? Go with me?" Hermione smiled and wiped the tears from her cheeks

.

"Tell me when," she answered. Harry laughed and swung her around in circles, making her squeal.

"What was it that you needed to tell me?" she asked when he'd put her down again.

"What I needed to tell you?"

"Ron said there was something you needed to tell me and that he was trying to talk you into it because you were too..." Comprehension had dawned on Harry's face.

"It's not important right now, I'll tell you later. So, where do you want to go?"

"Right now? To the shower and then bed. I'm exhausted." Harry laughed.

"I meant where do you want me to take you when we go out?"

"Why don't you surprise me?" she asked slyly.

"All right." He turned to leave so she could get ready for her shower. "But don't make any other plans for next weekend," he added as he reached the door. Hermione giggled as she heard him say as he stepped out into the hallway, "Now, where is Ron? I need to kill him!"


	23. A Confusing Explanation For Ron

Stripped Bare- Chapter 23

A Confusing Explanation For Ron

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

"There you are," Harry said when he'd finally located his redhaired friend the next morning. Hermione had left to go shopping with Ginny and Kailah, so she wouldn't hear what Harry was about to say.

"Good morning, Harry," Ron said cheerfully.

"Depends on what your mood is."

"Are you upset about something?"

"You could say that. I was talking to Hermione last night, and I asked for her help to ask someone out."

Ron's face said he didn't understand what his friend was doing when he knew that Harry was in love with Hermione, but didn't voice it. Instead he asked, "That's great! What'd she say?"

"Yes, but..."

"Well then, what are you so riled about?"

"If you would let me talk, I would tell you," Harry fumed.

"All right," Ron said slowly. "Did _I_ do something to make you angry, Harry?"

"Uh, _yeah_. Ron, why in the hell did you tell Hermione that I needed to tell her something! I don't want her to know that I'm in love with her just yet."

"Why not? I figured you would _want_ to tell her."

"NO!" Harry exclaimed, horrified. "I can't until I know how she feels about _me_!" He ran his hands through his hair.

"I don't understand, mate. Why can't you tell her?"

"Because I don't want her to laugh in my face, that's why. I need to know that she feels even remotely the same way that I do before I can tell her that I love her." He turned his head in the direction of the door when he heard a key in the lock. "Promise me you won't say anything else about it!" he said hurriedly.

Ron nodded and crossed his heart as Hermione and Ginny came in the door, followed by a tower of boxes that had a pair of legs and feet wearing Kailah's outlandish red and purple shoes. Harry and Ron laughed at the sight.

"Kailah, are you back there?" Ron chuckled, taking the top three packages from her.

"I'm not sure," she said. "I haven't been able to see where I was going since we came into the building."

"You can't say that Hermione and I didn't offer to help," Ginny admonished.

"I know, but I thought I would be able to handle all of them." She relinquished the remainder of the boxes to Harry and Ron and shrugged out of her coat.

"Did you three buy out half of London?" Harry asked, setting the parcels on the coffee table.

"No, only about a quarter," Hermione quiped. "I couldn't make up my mind about what to buy for next weekend, so I bought an assortment of choices." Ron looked over the many boxes and the bags that his sister and Hermione were still holding.

"What's so important about next weekend that requires a full wardrobe?" he asked. Hermione pulled out her wand and levitated the packages towards her room.

"Oh, nothing that would matter too much to you," she answered, following the purchases down the hall. "I'm going on a date." Ginny and Kailah grinned as they headed in the direction their friend was heading.

"With who?" Ron called, but Hermione's door shut before he got an answer. He turned to Harry with a bewildered expression. Harry's face showed that he knew what was going on, so he asked him, "Doesn't it bother you that the woman you love, even though you won't tell her because you want her to feel the same way first, is going out on a date next weekend?"

"No."

"Why the bloody hell not? You were wanting her to help you ask a girl out, and then she's going out with some guy, and you're not upset about it?" the redhead squawked. Harry's answer nearly made Ron's jaw hit the floor of the flat below them.

"Well, it would seem a bit silly as she did help, and I _did_ ask the girl. It's _me_ Hermione's going out with."


	24. Telling Ginny

Stripped Bare- Chapter 24

Telling Ginny

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

"Ron, will you leave me alone? I've already told you all I'm going to," Hermione repeated for what seemed to be the thousandth time over the last week. She was getting ready to go with Ginny to Andrea's birthday party, and was being held up by her redheaded roommate. "Why does it matter to you so much to know why Harry asked me out?"

"It's not that it _matters_ to me," he answered.

"Could have fooled me what with all the questions you keep asking me."

"I just want to know if he told you _why_ he asked you out." Hermione stopped brushing her hair and met Ron's eyes in the mirror.

"What do you mean _why_ he asked me out?" she asked suspiciously. "He told me that he _wanted_ to ask me." She put down the brush and turned around, her brown eyes narrowing. "Are you telling me there's something going on that I don't know about?"

"No!" Ron answered quickly. "I was just surprised that he did it. He's really shy around girls and I didn't even know that he'd gotten the nerve to ask you out." Something wasn't sounding right here.

"Ron, what is going on? What are you not telling me?" Hermione asked, crossing her arms.

"I can't tell you," Ron muttered, looking down at the floor. "Harry made me promise not to."

"You'd better tell me, or I'm going to hex you into the next century!"

"I can't, Hermione. I told him that I wouldn't say anything, and I've almost said too much as it is." He looked back up at her and shrugged. "You'll have to ask him when he gets home." Ron turned to leave Hermione's room.

"Huh? You mean he's not back yet?" Harry had been on an assignment for the Ministry for the last five days.

"No. He's still at the lookout point with Dean Thomas. At least I think they are. Harry said that he'd send us an owl if he was going to have to stay longer than five days and we haven't recieved one yet." He glanced back over his shoulder at her and saw the apprehension on her face. "He'll be back by tomorrow night, Hermione, I know he will. Now you'd better hurry up. If I know Ginny, she'll be here in about five minutes." He walked out, heading to his own bedroom. As he closed his door behind him, he heard Hermione sigh worriedly.

"What do you think, Pig?" he asked the tiny little owl that started twittering madly in its cage at the sight of Ron. "Think Hermione cares about Harry the same way he does her?" Pig began zooming around in his cage. Ron grinned and tossed him a few owl treats before gathering a change of clothes. "I think so, too." He heard his sister arrive on his way to the shower a minute later, and gave her a thumbs up as they passed in the hall.

"What was that about?" she asked.

"The Harry and Hermione situation," Ron muttered softly to her as he entered the bathroom. Ginny laughed quietly and turned to go into Hermione's room. She found her friend sitting on the edge of the bed, her face buried in her hands.

"What's up?" she asked as she closed the door. Hermione started and hurriedly wiped her eyes before turning around.

"Harry isn't back yet."

"So? He'll be here tomorrow, I know it. He's not going to break your date." Ginny grinned as she sat down beside Hermione. "Don't worry about what's not going to happen. Worry about what you're going to wear tonight. Andrea is going to be in her black satin catsuit, Kailah is wearing that turquoise minidress that she bought the other day, and Maureen still hadn't made up her mind when I talked to her last, but she'll look spectacular. She always does. So you can't let down the group by wearing just any old thing." She stood and walked over to Hermione's closet. "What about that strapless red dress you bought?" Ginny heard Hermione's sob and looked back over her shoulder.

"This date isn't going to happen?"

"No!" Ginny rushed back over to the bed and wrapped her arms around Hermione. "I meant that Harry breaking your date isn't going to happen. He'll be here." She held her friend at arm's length. "Has he ever let you down before?" Hermione shook her head. "Well, there you go. Tomorrow you and Harry are going to go on that date, and then you're going to have the best sex of your lives!"

"How do you know?" Hermione asked as Ginny got back up and returned to the closet in search of the red dress.

"Oh, come on, Hermione. I've seen the tension between you and Harry. It's bound to be explosive the first time you two sleep together." She froze in place at Hermione's retort.

"It was."

"Excuse me?" Ginny said, turning slowly around.

"Harry and I have slept together," Hermione said, a small smile playing at her mouth.

"Oh. My. God!" Hermione met Ginny's wide-eyed expression.

"But you can't tell Ron. Harry and I have talked about it and we think it's best if Ron not know for a while. He thinks we're just friends, not lovers as well."

"I won't tell him."

"And you can't let Harry know that I've told _you_, either. He might be offended by it and think that I told you just so I could get a bit of glory or something."

"Huh?"

"Me being the woman that took Harry Potter's virginity? If that got out, it would surely make the Prophet. Especially since I'm one of the famous 'trio'." Ginny's eyes grew even wider.

"_You're_ the one that Harry lost his virginity to?" Hermione nodded. "When?"

"Around Christmas. It was right after that show when we gave him all that money."

"When you gave him the twenty?" Hermione nodded. "Wow. This is big! I mean, _big_! Does Ron know _anything_ about you and Harry at all?"

"No. Like I said, to him we're just friends."

"You don't think he knows how you really feel about Harry?"

"Well, considering that Harry and I have been avoiding each other for the last couple of weeks, Ron probably thinks that we're fighting."

"I was wondering about that myself until you told me that you were in love with Harry and didn't want him to find out because he wants you to help him find a girlfriend."

Hermione started crying again.

"Oh God! Why did I ever agree to that?"

"You know, Hermione, there _may_ be a way to keep your promise and get what you want at the same time."

"How?"

"Choose yourself as the perfect girlfriend for Harry."

"That would work, except..."

"What?"

"He's only interested in me for the sex. He's just about told me that straight out."

"Really?" Now Ginny was confused. She'd recieved a completely different story from Ron. One that said Harry had quite the same feelings for Hermione as she had for him. "Well, then it's up to you to change his mind, isn't it?" She stood up and tugged at Hermione's hands.

"Now come on. If we hurry, we can still arrive fashionably late for Andrea's party."


	25. A Dinner Confession

Stripped Bare- Chapter 25

A Dinner Confession

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

Hermione straightened the hem of her dress and studied her reflection in the mirror for a second, trying to see herself from a male point of view. She had the distinct feeling that she was going to be stood up by Harry, who still had not returned from his assignment, even though he'd promised her repeatedly before he'd left that he'd be back in time for their dinner at Solomon's this evening.

Well, she was almost as ready as she was going to get- her hair was tamed for once and she'd taken special pains with her make up and choice of clothing. Her chocolate eyes popped under shimmering lavender eyeshadow and the royal purple knee-length dress hugged her curves like a second skin. All that was left was her new silver strap sandals. Once they were on her feet, she spritzed some perfume on her neck and wrists, left her room and after grabbing her handbag from the back of the sofa, she called out to Ron and Luna that she was leaving. They acknowledged her with calls of good luck, and she Apparated from the flat.

"Good evening, Miss Granger," said the maitre'd five minutes later as she entered Solomon's.

"Good evening, Phillip. Is the other half of my party here?" He checked the reservation book and raised regretful eyes to her.

"No, I'm sorry. But can I seat you, and get you a drink while you wait?" Stifling a sigh of disappointment, Hermione nodded and followed Phillip to a table in a secluded corner of the restaurant. He pulled out her chair when they'd reached it and asked what she would like to drink.

"Champagne," came a voice by a tall potted plant opposite her. Harry stepped out from behind it. "The best you have, Phillip. Tonight, money is no object." Hermione's jaw dropped as Phillip nodded and bowed himself away from the table. She'd not been stood up after all, and was absolutely gobsmacked at the sight of Harry. She'd seen him in dress robes, but _never_ in a tuxedo. He must have had it tailored because it fit him so well, she was begining to salivate from how delicious he looked. He came over to the table and sat across from her, his eyes never leaving hers. "You look amazing," he whispered.

"So do you," she replied. "Is that just for tonight?" She indicated his tuxedo.

"No. Actually I got this back in September."

"Oh, you bought it?"

"Yes...for your wedding, but I'm not going to go there. This night is for us, and I don't want to bring up any painful memories." Phillip arrived with their champagne and two fluted classes. When left alone once more, Harry opened the bottle and filled the glasses, handing one to Hermione, and holding up his own. "To new beginnings," he said before taking a sip of the sparkling wine.

"What type of beginnings, Harry?" Hermione asked after she'd swallowed the bit of champagne she'd taken. Harry merely smiled and picked up his menu. Hermione did the same, glancing at him curiously, wondering what it was that he was up to. A sheet of paper fluttered out of her menu when she opened it. Picking it up from the tabletop, she saw that it was a poem addressed to her.

To Hermione-

From the day I met you

On the Hogwarts Express,

You've been my friend and helped me

Through each and every mess.

When you said you were getting married,

You were leaving me behind,

I knew that the man you chose

Was treating you unkind.

But how could I tell you,

The guy was such a jerk?

I was afraid you'd tell me-

"Mind your business, you great berk!"

And so I let you find out for yourself

The wrong that he had done.

But what I didn't plan on-

You were sad when you were alone.

I tried to cheer you with jokes

(And you helped me to rehearse)

I took you shopping with me

But it made me feel worse.

Not because I wanted you

To feel sad all the time,

But because I wanted

Your heart to be mine.

I don't know how long I've felt this,

But I do know that it's true.

You're my friend, but I want more,

Because, Hermione, I love you!

(I'm sorry if the rhymes are bad, but I'm

not really good at writing poetry)

Harry-

Hermione's brown eyes were blurred with tears when she looked up at an anxiously waiting Harry. She picked up her napkin and dabbed at them, a smile on her face.

"Oh, Harry," she choked. "That was the sweetest thing I've ever been given."

"It _is_ true," he replied softly.

"What's true?"

"I love you." Hermione stopped blotting her eyes and looked directly at him. A waiter came over to take their order, and when he'd left, Harry cleared his throat uncomfortably. "I take it you don't feel the same way," he said softly.

"Why do you think that?"

"You haven't said anything about my telling you that I love you." He couldn't meet her eyes now.

"I'm in shock, that's all."

"I shouldn't have done that," Harry muttered angrily to himself. He started to stand up from the table.

"What are you doing?" Hermione asked.

"Going back to the flat," he answered, pulling out his wallet and taking out a plastic card. He tossed it onto the table. "Spend whatever you want. I'll tell Phillip it's fine with me." He turned away. Hermione's eyes jumped from the credit card lying in front of her to Harry's back.

"Harry! Don't go!" She jumped up and grabbed his arm. He looked back at her sadly.

"There's no reason for me to stay."

"Of course there is. Our meals are coming, and- and-"

"And what, Hermione?"

"And I think that I should be able to have the date that you asked me out for." Harry chuckled disparingly.

"Come on, Hermione. You really want to have dinner with me after I gave you a sappy poem, badly written, I might add, and then I told you that I loved you?" Hermione nodded.

"Yes, Harry, I do." She sat down again, and gestured to his chair. He did not move.

"Why?"

"Well, I know you're not going to believe this right now, but you can ask Ginny. She'll verify that I told her."

"What, Hermione?" Harry asked, sounding just the slightest bit irritated. She looked up at him.

"That I'm in love with you." He stared back at her, not breathing for a second.

"_You're_ in love with _me_?" he asked, now moving to stand beside his chair. Hermione nodded and smiled at him, tears filling her eyes once more.

"I was so shocked to hear that you felt the same way that I do, that I couldn't express how much your poem means to me."

"Merlin!" Harry gasped softly, a smile forming on his face. He sat down as the waiter arrived with their dinners. They ate in silence for a few minutes, stealing glances at each other and grinning bashfully when they were caught.

"So, do you want to tell Ron, or keep it a secret for a while?" Hermione asked when they'd been served their desserts. Harry swallowed his bite of crème brulée and lay his fork down.

"Um, a bit of both. I'd like to tell Ron, but not right away. And I want to keep it a secret from the rest of the wizarding world- Just so you don't have to deal with any more media attention than you usually get for being my friend."

"All right, that sounds fair to me, but we _are_ going to have to come out about it sometime, Harry. Rita Skeeter will find out eventually."

"I know," he groaned. "And she'll be turning it around into a sordid mess if we don't do some damage control before she can get out that quill of hers."

"O.K. The only ones to know right now are sitting at this table, then we'll tell Ron when we're ready, and the Daily Prophet when we can get up the nerve?"

"Sounds good to me," Harry laughed. Hermione joined in, and Harry reached across the table to take her hand. "It looks like we've both brought your promise to me to a wonderful conclusion."

"And what's that?" she asked with a knowing smile.

"You kept your promise to find me a girlfriend. And I chose you to be the one that I wanted to _be_ my girlfriend." .


	26. Ron Figures It All Out

Stripped Bare- Chapter 26

Ron Figures It All Out

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

Ron noticed a certain scent that he knew he'd smelled before, but couldn't place it. It seemed to be coming from the hallway and he got up from his chair to locate it's origin. It got stronger as he reached the end of the hall and Hermione's room. In fact, it seemed to be coming _from_ Hermione's room. Ron walked through the door and looked around for the source of the scent. He noticed a few glass bottles on Hermione's dresser and moved over to them. He picked up the first and read the name of the perfume inside- Tribe. He sniffed it and shook his head. That was the perfume that she wore each day, but certainly not what he was smelling. When he traded it for the next bottle- Sand And Sable, but found that wasn't it, either. He picked up the third and knew he had finally found the source. He read the bottle- A Little Sexy, but still couldn't place where he'd smelled it before now.

He carried the bottle around the room with him, sniffing it every few steps, trying to think. He moved past Hermione's bed, looked down to make sure he'd skirted her laundry basket and was about to head back over to the dresser when he froze. Spinning around, he bent over and drew a piece of blue lace out of the basket. Now he had another mystery. He knew he'd seen this bra before, but where?

"Oh my God!" Ron exclaimed as he started to put two and two together. This was the bra that he'd found underneath Harry's bed the morning that he'd woken him up to tell him about Oliver's letter. Then it had only been the scent that had intrigued him, but now he knew where he'd smelled the perfume before. Hermione wore this scent on occasions when she was going out for the night with her friends.

"But how did the bra get... in... her... basket?" He smacked himself on the forehead. "Duh, Weasley! It was _Hermione_ that... Harry... slept... with." His jaw fell open. "OH MY GOD! Harry slept with Hermione!" He returned the items clumsily to their locations and bolted from the room to run to the kitchen.

"What is the big emergency, Ron?" Ginny asked when she'd arrived at the flat less than ten minutes later. "You call my house and tell me to get over here, now, and I find you pacing up and down the living room."

"I found out something _huge_ about Harry and Hermione," he said, spinning to face her as soon as he heard her voice.

"What?" she asked, concerned now.

"They've slept together. Hermione was Harry's first."

"They told you this?" Ginny asked, relieved that it was nothing more serious.

"Told me? No, I was trying locate this scent, and found it in Hermione's room. Then when I was trying to place it, I found the same thing that I confronted Harry with the morning after he slept with this girl. It was a blue bra, and it smelled just like that perfume!"

"So how does this prove that Harry slept with Hermione?"

"Gin, come on! How many women are going to have that particular perfume and a blue bra? And then what are the chances that both of them are going to either know or have met Harry?"

"Well, actually, pretty good. Maureen, Andrea, Kailah, Hermione and I all have the same dress, just in different colors. Of course, we don't wear it at the same time, that would look ridiculous, but the concept is still the same, isn't it?"

"I guess so," he admitted unwillingly. "I was just so sure!" Ron flopped down in a chair, disappointed.

"Well, it was a good guess," Ginny said, sitting across from him. She started laughing. "But can you picture that? Harry and Hermione?" Ron leveled his gaze on his sister and nodded. She choked on her giggles.

"Gin, Harry told me that he's in love with Hermione. I've been trying to get the two of them together ever since that day." He smacked the arm of the chair in frustration. "I just don't get it! He sleeps with some random girl when he's in love with Hermione? What the hell is wrong with him?"

"Maybe he didn't know that he was in love then. Maybe he didn't feel that way about her yet?"

"Maybe, but, Ginny, if he didn't sleep with Hermione, then why wouldn't he tell me the truth about the girl?"

"Excuse me?"

"He hesitated when he told me that the girl he'd hooked up with lived with her parents."

"Maybe she does," Ginny said, wishing her brother would drop this conversation.

"I don't think so. Harry wasn't even absolutely definite when he told me she was a female stripper. In fact," He got to his feet and began to pace the room once more. "He sounded like he was _asking_ me about it, and..." Something clicked in his memory. "Hermione was starting to ask Harry about finding something of hers when she noticed I was in the room... and then she _blushed_ when I showed her the bra! Ginny, it all fits!" He turned to his sister, who was now wearing an expression of defeat.

"What? What's the matter with you?"

"Nothing."

"Come on, you look like you're upset that I've figured it out before you." Her eyes fluttered closed. "Oh, my GOD!"

"Ronald, must you keep saying that? Everytime you think you're sure of something..."

"You _knew_!" He flopped back down in the chair, staring at his sister. She looked at him dejectedly, and nodded.

"Yes, Harry and Hermione have slept together. Happy now? Hermione didn't want me to tell you because Harry probably thought that you would tease him to no end if you found out."

"Well, technically you didn't tell me, you just confirmed what I'd figured out." A huge grin formed on Ron's face. "I knew it. Harry and Hermione are going to get together."

"They've already _been_ together, Ron," Ginny reminded him.

"I meant in a relationship. You know, as boyfriend and girlfriend?"

"I do hope so. Hermione loves Harry. And you said that Harry told you he loves her. But, Ron," She stood up and got ready to leave. "Remember, Hermione was hurt by Stephen only five months ago, and Harry's extremely shy. Please don't do anything that's going to put them off starting a relationship. Don't even let them know that you know _anything_. Let them take it at their own pace and not be forced into decisions that they may not be ready to make, please?"

"I promise, Gin. I won't say or do anything. But you do remember what day it is don't you?"

"Yes, I do. It's Valentine's Day, and I want to get home to my husband before the end of it, so good-night." She Disapparated. Ron got up from his chair to head into the kitchen, singing softly with delight to himself.


	27. Their Celebration Continues

Stripped Bare- Chapter 27

Their Celebration Continues

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

"Shhh! You'll wake Ron up!" Hermione's giggled whispers carried through Ron's closed door. He'd been woken by a series of loud thumps and crashes from the front room, and had just been about to get up when Hermione had spoken.

"Sorry," Harry replied softly, also laughing. Ron smiled as he heard only one door close and silence resumed in the corridor.

"O.K. I know I said that I was going to show you my new costume idea," Harry said as he rummaged through his closet, "But I don't know now."

"Oh, come on, Harry. You promised," Hermione admonished, sitting on his bed and wagging a finger at his back. He saw this in the mirror and laughed.

"What are you going to do if I don't?" he asked.

"Hmmm, I don't know. Maybe I'll just go to my room for the night." She moved to stand up.

"I don't think you'll have to do that," Harry said with another chuckle, resuming his searching. He pulled out his bag and brought it over to the bed. "I was only kidding, but do you really want to see this? It's horribly simple. Oh, that's right," he added as he opened the bag and saw exactly what was inside. "I was having trouble deciding, so I put _two_ choices in here. So that I could do one of them for one show and one for another, you know?"

"Harry, love, are you going to show me what they are, or are you trying to stall?" Hermione laughed. He leaned over and kissed her.

"You know how much I like hearing you call me that?" He stood and pulled out the first of the costumes. It consisted of a pair of jeans and a t-shirt.

"What is it?" Hermione asked, tilting her head to the side in confusion.

"That's just it. I don't know. I wasn't able to think of how to use this one. I mean, am I just a guy walking down the street? But you're going to laugh when you see the other one." He put the first outfit aside and pulled out what appeared to be his old Hogwarts uniform, minus the robes, of course.

"Hmmm. All right, I have a question. How does your old school uniform become a costume?"

"It wouldn't be my Hogwarts stuff, exactly. I was thinking about getting a plain black suit and tie, and a white shirt, but Mitch thought that the women would think that I was trying to be like a school boy. I get what he means, but...What?" he asked as Hermione's face became enthralled. "You _want_ me to dress as a school boy?"

"No, of course not, Harry. That's just wrong, not to mention more than a little disgusting. No, I was thinking more along the lines of that movie we rented a few months ago, Men In Black?" Harry held up the clothes appraisingly. "Or maybe like Justin Timberlake. Hey, that would work!"

"What would work?"

"You know how Justin Timberlake dresses in a suit on some of his album covers?" Harry nodded. "And you know that one song that he does, oh, what's the name of it?" She snapped her fingers as she tried to recall it. "I can't remember at the moment, but it would be _perfect_ for you!" Harry stared at her avidly. "What?" He knelt in front of her and took her face between his hands.

"Do you know how happy you have made me?"

"Well, I know how happy I intend to make you in about two minutes. Does that count?" She leaned forward and kissed him passionately. He moaned and scooted her further back on the bed, laying his body across hers.

"If it involves getting you out of that dress- sexy as it is- then yes, that would count." Hermione twisted just far enough for Harry to undo the zipper in the back.

He rose up to pull it from her body and returned to feast on her now bare breasts. Her hands began pushing the coat of his tuxedo off his shoulders, and he held out one arm, then the other for her to pull the sleeves off him without stopping his suckling. A minute later though, he had to pause as she'd removed his bowtie and undone the first three buttons, and having pulled the hem from his trousers, was attempting to tug the shirt over his head.

"You know, someone would think you're trying to get me naked, Hermione Granger," Harry whispered, his lips and teeth nipping at her throat now.

"I _am_ trying to get you naked!" she groaned. "I want you inside me. Now!"

"I still have my trousers and shoes on," he pointed out. Hermione reached between them and undid the fastenings at his waist, reached in and pulled him free.

"Harry, I wouldn't care if you were dressed in Hagrid's overcoat!" She pulled him closer to her center and yanked the crotch of her knickers out of the way. "Please!" she urged him, and wrapping her legs around his waist, pulled him into her tight, wet sheath.

"Hermione!" Harry gasped. "I don't want to have to remind you about this now that, oh, Merlin, that feels good." Hermione had begun rolling her hips in effort to persuade him to move. He reached down with one hand to still her. "But you've forgotten something." Her chocolate eyes looked up at him questioningly. "The charms?" he reminded her.

"I don't care if Ron hears us tonight, Harry!" she moaned, and resumed her squirming.

"Maybe not," he replied, tightening his grip on the heated, satiny skin of her leg. "But even though we love each other, do you really want the possibility of me giving you a baby tonight?" Hermione stilled and blushed.

"I forgot about that," she said with an embarrassed whimper.

"And you were telling me _I_ needed to get into the habit of doing the charm," Harry chuckled. He summoned his wand from the jacket and muttered all three of the charms, (_He_ didn't want to have to hear Ron repeating any of the sounds that they might make!) tossed it aside, and proceeded to give Hermione exactly what she was pleading for. He thrust into her depths hard and fast, bringing moans, screams and sighs of pleasure from her as her walls clenched around his member in her continuously flowing orgasms. Her nails dug into his shoulders and scratched his back and arms as she spiraled through the ecstacy of their lovemaking. Harry's own orgasm was building deep in his balls, but he held it back, wanting Hermione to beg him for it.

"Gryffindor's patronus, Harry! I can't take anymore!" she screamed after ten minutes and uncountable orgasms later, "I want you to cum for me! I want to feel your cock jerking as you shoot your load into my body!" Harry, panting heavily from his exertions, took a deep ragged breath, dropped his chin to his chest and slowly raised it until his hair was tickling the backs of his shoulders as he let out a sound that started as a low groan and built to a eardrum shattering bellow as he began to do just as she wanted. It seemed to go on forever, but was only a few seconds. He thought that he may never hit the ground again, he was falling from such a height. He was finally able to return to earth and heard Hermione keening under him with her final release. He blinked down at her, trying to clear beads of sweat from his eyes when she opened her own eyes and smiled up at him.

"Happy now?" he choked.

"Very." She pulled him down to her, his arms giving out, too tired to support his weight anymore. Hermione kissed his sweat-slick forehead and wrapped her arms around him. "I love you, Harry James Potter," she whispered.

"I love you too, Hermione Jean Granger," Harry replied as they fell asleep just as they were.


	28. Harry Needs A Break

Stripped Bare- Chapter 28

Harry Needs A Break

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

"How about this one?" Kailah asked from the floor where she was kneeling. Harry looked up to see what she had in mind.

"No," Harry said. "The problem with it is that I want it to be black. That's gray."

"What's wrong with gray? Why does it have to be black?"

"I'm going to be sweating before I even start taking it off, Kailah. And black won't stain as fast." He dropped his eyes back to his page. Maureen, Ginny and Andrea laughed, Ron just shook his head with a smile.

"I think you would look better in gray. Let's see what your girlfriend has to say about it."

"What I have to say about what?" Hermione asked, returning to the living room with a tray of snacks.

They had been looking through books, magazines, catalogues and newspapers for the better part of the afternoon to find a new costume for Harry's act.

"This one," Kailah showed her the suggestion she'd made.

"Hmm. I like the way it looks, but Harry's right. Black _would_ be better. If for no other reason," she added as she put the tray on the table and sat beside him on the couch. "Black shows off his bum the best." Ron choked on the can of Pepsi he'd just taken from the tray.

"What's the point of the suit showing off his bum if he's just going to be doffing the thing anyway?" he asked when he was able to speak again.

"The costume has to be sexy, Ron," his sister informed him.

"I still don't see the point."

"The point is, if I go out there and the women aren't interested in me when I'm dressed, chances are they're not going to be paying too much more attention to me after I've taken off my clothes, no matter what my body looks like," Harry broke in, taking off his glasses and pinching the bridge of his nose. "Can we take a break from this? I'm getting exhausted, and we don't seem to be any closer to finding me a suit than we were when we started." He stood up and left the room, heading down the hall.

Hermione looked at the others worriedly and rose to follow her boyfriend.

"Harry, what's wrong?" she asked when she found him in his room.

"I don't know. I guess a bit of everything. I have to have this costume by next Friday or I'm going to have to wear the scrubs again, and I'm so sick of those things I could scream, I have a report due to Kingsley on Monday, Oliver's told me that it's going to be a while before he can get the brooms for the Cannons and they need them before the league starts, I _still_ haven't got the broom he was supposed to be sending me." He flopped down on his stomach on the bed. "I need a holiday!" Hermione sat down next to him and began rubbing his shoulders.

"I agree you're under some stress, but it really isn't that much, is it?"

"No," his muffled voice answered. "But it's all on top of each other. And the worst part is, I don't have a lot of time to be with you." She pulled her hands away and he rolled over.

"That's the worst part?" she asked wryly.

"Of course it is. I'm in love with you, and I can't get more than a few minutes for us to be alone each day because of all the other stuff."

"I would have thought it would have been the broom thing."

"No! That's only bothering me because the Hurricane is coming out in three months and he promised me that he would have 'mine' long before anyone would be able to buy it. And I wanted to take you for a ride on it, too." He ran and hand seductively up the inside of her thigh.

"Now do you mean a ride, or a _ride_?" she trailed a finger down his chest.

"Depends on how you feel about it."

"I'll tell you what. I have a bit of time off built up, maybe we could go away for a week or two? After everything sorts out, of course."

"That'd be _wonderful_, Hermione." Harry sat up. "Where would you want to go?"

"Well, let's not make any plans, and just go to the first place we think of then. I've still got that tent that Bill lent us, you know, the one after we lost Perkins'? We could just take that with us and go wherever we want, or we could stay in a hotel, whatever. The point is that we would be together and we would be alone."

"I'm fine with that."

"So then it's settled? As soon as everything is taken care of, you and I go off for a while by ourselves?" Harry nodded and leaned in to give her a kiss. "Then can we go back out there and get at least one part of it done? You have a show next weekened, and I agree with you about the scrubs." She stood up and moved out of his reach.

"I'm getting tired of seeing you in them, too!" She laughed and ran out of the room before he could do more than jump to his feet.


	29. New Costume, New Routine

Stripped Bare- Chapter 29

New Costume, New Routine

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

Harry straightened his cuffs and slid on his jacket, then looked in the mirror. His new costume had arrived two days earlier and this was the first chance that he'd had to see how it looked as Hermione and Ginny had taken it from him to make a few minor changes. He knew that they'd done it to make it easier for him to remove each piece of clothing, and had done a wonderful job. You couldn't even see the differences. But the real test would be...

"Harry, you ready?" Kendall spoke up from behind him.

"As soon as I get my shoes on."

"O.K., I'll tell Mitch." He left the room, leaving Harry to take a few deep breaths and sit down to pull on the shoes they'd chosen for his costume. He'd told them to make absolutely sure that they were skid proof. He didn't want to go out there and fall flat on his bum. His face either, for that matter.

Mitch introduced him as the next dancer and Harry stood, going to the curtain to wait for his cue. It was to be the first line of the song that Hermione had _finally_ remembered the name of, and he had to admit, it suited the spirit of the show. She'd chosen his second song as well, and although he'd been hesitant about it at first because it was so different from the first, it had grown on him, and he'd modified his dance to go with the whole act.

His entrance was coming up and Harry readied himself to head onto the floor. As soon as the first line of the lyrics started, he ran out to the front of the room and recieved a loud cheer from a table in the back. He smiled, knowing that it was Hermione and her friends, and it boosted his confidence considerably.

"That's what your major problem is," Hermione had told him a few weeks earlier when he'd been wondering why after nearly eight months, he was still getting a pretty much cold reception from the women he was dancing for. "You're still too self-conscious. Or at the very least, too uptight. You need to loosen up, Harry." He'd taken offense to it for a day or two, not talking to Hermione until he realized...she might be right. So he'd began to form a new dance routine, although he did make the point of telling her with a smirk that _she'd_ not had a problem with his old dance.

He went through the first half of his act, removing an article of clothing at different certain points of the song. He knew that Hermione had chosen each one very deliberately, but Harry had to admit that for _**SexyBack**_, it was extremely effective.

He'd told Mitch to coax the women into screaming for him, Harry, to drop his trousers near the end of the song, just after the last 'You ready?' and Mitch had agreed with a grin. His job was to tell the women to answer the song's question at the same time that the answer came in the lyrics, but obviously much louder. This time the women were positively shrieking! His trousers dropped and the remainder of the song was drowned out entirely, the din was so loud.

The second half of his music, _**London Bridge**_, started and the crowd became even more wild for him. Hermione had been right! He made his way over to her table, giving her a bit of special attention that included the same move that had earned him £20 from her back in November and had given them a positive change in their relationship, moving them towards becoming boyfriend and girlfriend. He recieved more tips than he usually did, and when he left the floor, Mitch gave him the thumbs up. Harry grinned.

"What in the hell prompted you to change your act?" Shane, the dancer who had gone just before Harry, asked, scratching his head and holding out a towel when Harry had entered the dressing room. Harry took it, wiped the sweat from his eyes, then picked up his glasses and put them on.

"My girlfriend told me I needed to loosen up and I was looking for a new costume in the first place. I thought I looked stupid in those scrubs."

"That's Mitch's idea. Make the new guy look a fool until he gets a bit of a following or enough guts to change the costume to one that suits him more."

"So it wouldn't have done me any good to keep talking to Mitch about it? I just had to go ahead and change it on my own?"

"That's what you did, didn't you?" Harry thought for a second.

"Yeah, I guess I did! Mitch didn't really want to talk about it."

"That's 'cause he wants us to find the character that fits our personality." They groaned when they heard Mitch call out for all the guys to come back out onto the floor for the raffle, grinned at their leader's sense of timing (neither one had really been able to catch their breath), and walked out of the dressing room.


	30. The Answer He Wanted

Stripped Bare- Chapter 30

The Answer He Wanted

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

Two months passed, and it was now April. Harry had been working hard on a case for Kingsley and was nearly finished. He'd promised Hermione that they would take off for a week or two together when he'd owled in his report, as he had quite a bit of personal time coming to him.

"Finally!" he said, dotting the last sentence with a period and picking up the his report to wave the ink dry before he rolled the parchment up.

"What?" Ron asked as he came down the hall with a basket full of laundry.

"I'm done with that Caudwell case. There is absolutely no way they're going to find the guy innocent with the evidence the Aurors have against him."

"Speaking of the Aurors..." Ron freed one hand to hold out an envelope that had Harry's name on it. "An owl had just dropped it on your desk when I was getting your laundry and I thought it might be important, so there you go." Harry groaned as he took the letter.

"I _really_ don't want to open this. It's probably another assignment. I promised Hermione that we'd go away for a while. Why couldn't they give me an answer about my time off request?"

"Given that you _never_ ask for time off, and you have about four months of personal days, I don't think you should have had to ask them in the first place," Ron said as he went out the door to head to the laundry room in their building's basement.

"Thanks for doing my laundry, but don't put the darks in with my underwear again!" Harry called after him. Ron had a habit of just shoving all the clothes in the washer at the same time. Harry'd had pink, blue and canary yellow underclothes for almost two weeks after the last time his friend had done the wash.

"I won't! I have Hermione's stuff too!" came Ron's reply. Harry chuckled. Hermione would skin Ron alive if he _dared_ to treat her clothing as he treated his own, and had taken him down to the basement more than once to instruct him on how to properly do the laundry. Harry sighed as the envelope beckoned for him to open it and closing his eyes briefly, he turned the letter open and slid a finger under the flap. The paper inside fluttered out and began to recite its contents aloud.

"To Harry J. Potter, From the desk of Kingsley Shacklebolt, Minister of Magic and Head of the Auror Department. Dear Mr. Potter. Having reviewed your request for time off, I have granted you three weeks beginning upon closure of your current case. As soon as I have received your report, you may begin your holiday. Sincerely, Kingsley Shacklebolt, Minister of Magic and Head of the Auror Department."

The letter disintegrated into a puff of orange smoke and Harry grinned. He looked at his watch and grabbed his report, then hurried to the Apparition spot just as Ron came back into the flat.

"Where are you going?" Ron asked.

"The Ministry. I have to get this to Kingsley today. I've got the next three weeks off and I want to start it _immediately_." Harry turned on the spot and was gone, leaving Ron to chuckle and shake his flame-haired head.


	31. Alone At Last

Stripped Bare- Chapter 31

Alone At Last

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

"Harry, what on earth are you doing?" Hermione asked as she watched him circle their campsite, casting spells and charms much in the way they had while in hiding before the last battle.

"I want _total_ privacy for us, that's all. I don't want to be bothered by anyone or anything. You and I have had too little time together these last few weeks and I just want us to be able to have a conversation that isn't interuppted by work or, even though I don't want to be mean by saying this, our friends."

"But we didn't tell anyone where we were going, and it's the middle of the night." Hermione gestured needlessly at the moon and stars above them. "I don't think that you have to worry about us being bothered." She set Harry's new Hurricane against the side of the tent that they had borrowed from Bill and Fleur when they'd left Shell Cottage and had yet to return. (Fleur wasn't much for camping, even in a tent that had a sitting room and a full kitchen and bath.) She stared at the broom a few seconds and marveled at how quickly they'd reached their destination, under twenty minutes, and they'd left London and headed north almost to Scotland!

"I am so glad that arrived yesterday," Harry whispered, coming up behind his girlfriend and wrapping his arms around her waist. "That means we don't have to Apparate everywhere we go, and I can try something I want to do with you."

"What's that?"

"Un-uh. You're going to have to wait until later to find that one out. And as for worrying about somone bothering us, with all the people that have been in and out of our flat over the last couple of weeks, I'm not taking any chances!" He kissed the back of her neck.

"What's wrong with Apparating everywhere we go?"

"Like I said, I want to try something with you on that broom." He picked her up and craddled her against his chest. "But right now, I think it's time for dinner." Hermione laughed as she wrapped her arms around Harry's neck. He carried her into the tent and sat her on the sofa that faced the entrance. "You stay there and I'll get it ready." He strode off to the kitchen, and she heard banging of pots and pans. It made her uneasy, as he was making quite a bit of noise.

"Harry? Are you sure you don't want any help?" She cringed as a particularly loud clang sounded. Harry stuck his head back around the door frame.

"Not a bit. I'm almost done, you just stay there." He vanished again, and the banging resumed. A minute later, silence ensued, and Hermione sighed with relief and apprehension. What on earth could Harry have been cooking that required him to make a din to wake the dead? He came out of the kitchen carrying two covered plates, which he placed on the table in front of Hermione, and sat across from her.

"For all the racket going on in there, you made this really fast," she said suspiciously. Harry shrugged with a grin.

"That was just to keep you from hearing the incantations I was casting." He pulled the covers off the plates. Hermione gasped.

"Oh, Harry!" she breathed, staring down at a perfectly cooked fillet, fresh asparagus tips and a twice baked potato. "This looks incredible."

"You prefer yours medium well, don't you?" She nodded, tears forming in her eyes.

"Hermione, what's wrong?" Harry asked in alarm.

"Nothing, I'm just so touched that you would go to all this trouble, just for me."

"Hey, it wasn't just for you. I have to eat too, you know."

"You know what I meant," she giggled with a small sniffle. "You-Know-Who wouldn't even have troubled himself to find out how I liked my steak in the first place, much less have made one for me."

"Hermione, Voldemort wouldn't have done the cooking for _himself_."

"Not Voldemort, you git," she laughed.

"I know who you meant, I was just trying to keep you from crying. I never want to see you cry."

"Not even from happiness?"

"Well, maybe that, but never from being hurt, or sad or even mad at me."

"Why would I be mad at you?"

"Well, because I didn't actually cook this." He gestured at their meals. "I just conjured it up."

"Harry, you can't just conjure food up."

"I know. The food was in that plastic bag I brought. I just did a few spells to put it all together." He got up and moved around the table to kneel at her side. "I'm not really _that_ good a cook. You've seent the extent of my skills in the kitchen. They stop at spaghetti." Hermione laughed and gave him a one armed hug.

"You don't give yourself enough credit, Harry. That's part of your self-esteem problem." He raised his eyebrows at her. "I love you for it, but look what happened when we changed your dance routine."

"I _did_ get a better reaction," he admitted.

"Exactly. And your being too shy around women? I don't have a problem with that one anymore. I don't want you getting that kind of attention from other girls now. You're mine and I intend to keep you for as long as I can." She punctuated this with a kiss on the tip of his nose. He grinned back at her and returned to his seat. They ate their meal in silence, just reveling in the knowledge that they were together and that they were 'alone' for the first time in their relationship. When they'd finished, Harry stood and gathered up their dishes.

"You stay put, I'll do the clean up."

"What clean up?" she giggled. "You made dinner by magic, remember?"

"The plates and silverware still have to be washed," he said as he disappeared into the kitchen. He returned a few minutes later and held out his hand to her.

"What?"

"Well, it's getting late, and I was wanting to get to bed soon." He ran his gaze down Hermione's body.

"But first I wonder if you'd want to join me in the shower? It's big enough for two."

"It wasn't before," she said with a grin. "Did you do something to it?" Harry nodded.

"When I brought in our bags. You were so enthralled with my broom that you didn't notice I was gone."

"Speaking of your broom..."

"Nope. I'm not going to tell you what I want to do, but I promise that you'll be perfectly safe. Now, how about that shower?" Hermione's eyes glinted as she took Harry's hand.

"I'll race you," she said.


	32. A Surprise For Ron

Stripped Bare- Chapter 32

A Surprise For Ron

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

Ron clapped his hands to the sides of his head as yet another letter arrived for either Harry or Hermione. He groaned as he took the letter from the owl and added it to the increasing pile. His roomates had left three days previous, and had not left him any notice of where they could be reached. He thought that his brother's owl, Hermes, would be able to find them, but so far the bird had not returned, and Ron was getting frantic.

"Bloody Hell!" he cried when still another owl brought a letter to him. If the owls were delivering the letters to the flat, did that mean that Harry and Hermione were in an unplottable area or something? He didn't know, but he was going to be bald if he didn't stop tearing at his hair. Luna had already pointed out to him that the hair on the left side of his head seemed to be a bit thinner than it usually was. He slammed the window shut, knowing full well that that wouldn't stop the owls from delivering their letters, and hurried to his bedroom, where he found Hermes perched on the headboard of the bed, the note to Harry and Hermione still tied to his leg.

"You couldn't find them either, huh?" he sighed as he sat down on the bed. "I wish they'd told me where they were going. Harry's been getting letters from Oliver Wood like three times a day, Hermione's parents are going balistic, and my own mother is telling me that I shouldn't have let the two of them go off without at least leaving me a note! What was I supposed to do, Hermes? Tie them up until they told me where they were going to be?" Hermes fluttered down to the mattress and held out his leg. Ron pulled the note off and stroked his brother's owl's head feathers. "Thanks for trying, anyway." The owl hooted and took off out the window.

"Who are you talking to, Ronald?" came Luna's voice from the doorway.

"Hermes," he answered, standing up and going over to give her a hug. "He just left, right after he brought back the letter that I sent to Harry and Hermione. They just took off the other day. No note, didn't tell me where they were going, and I'm the one that got all the responsibility for collecting their post."

"I know, Ronald. You've told me all this."

"But now Hermes brought back the letter that I sent them! That means that either they don't want to be found or they 'can't' be found. I don't know which, but if they can't be found and are hurt or something, my mother is going to have a hippogriff."

"I'm sure that they are alright. It's more than likely that Harry and Hermione just wanted to have some time alone and didn't want to be disturbed. It's quite hard to do with all the Sharzpugs and Kwertiens around."

"What's a Kwertien?"

"They are the creatures that cause every attempt that you make to be alone with the one you love get disrupted. There are probably hundreds of them around, and they like the color black because they are so mischievous, so it's only natural that they would be bothering Harry more than anyone else in the flat."

"Because of his black hair," Ron added with a grin, begining to think this very funny. Luna nodded sagely.

"Of course. So he took Hermione somewhere that they wouldn't be bothered by the Kwertiens." Ron leaned down and kissed his girlfriend.

"I love you, you know that?" She kissed him back.

"Yes, and I love you too." She tightened her hold on him for a second, then released him, but he retained his grip on her. "What?" she asked, looking up at him.

"You know, this is the first time that we've been alone together in about two weeks?"

"That's because we've both been so busy. Father and I have been trying to get my designs ready for me to take to Madame Malkin's and..." She was silenced as Ron kissed her again and slipped a hand around to cup her breast. "Oh, _that's_ what you meant," she finished when they'd seperated. She brought her hand around to his front and slid it tantalizingly slowly to the hardness forming in the front of his sweatpants. Ron sighed with pleasure when her fingers stroked him.

"So you have the same thought in mind, I take it?" he asked, recieving Luna sliding to the floor and pulling the front of his pants down as an answer. His breath caught in his throat the next second as he was engulfed in the wet heat of her velvety mouth. Her protuberant blue eyes met his, and his cock swelled to its full hardness. Ron was thankful that Harry and Hermione _weren't_ there, because he didn't think that he would be able to perform the privacy charms at that moment.

"I think that we need to get to the bed," Luna said, pulling off Ron's cock and standing up. She pulled out her wand, and with a few rapid flicks, they were both naked and the room was in a dimmer light, the curtains having drawn themselves over the window to give them at least visual privacy. He was sure that she'd cast 'Silencio' as well so that their Muggle neighbors wouldn't get an earfull of what was going on. He led her to the bed and laid her down, then knelt on the floor so he could begin his favorite part of making love with Luna. His tongue dipped into her navel, and she, knowing what was coming, spread her legs as wide as she could for him.

"What do you want me to do first?" he asked unnecessarily. He knew what she would say, but he loved to make her beg for it.

"Lick me," she panted with anticipation.

"Like this?" He made a path from her soaked opening to her quivering button and back. Luna's back arched and she groaned loudly. Her hands clutched at his hair, drawing him closer to her center.

_**That didn't take long**_ he thought. _**She must have had this in mind from the moment she got here.**_ Usually he had to tease her for about ten minutes before she grabbed his head, but she was wasting no time today. He began licking her clit the way she liked and was soon rewarded by her body shuddering in orgasm. Normally, he would have continued, but she pulled his head away from her streaming snatch and drew him up along her body as she moved farther back onto the bed.

"I want you. Now." Ron didn't question her, but thrust into her slick tunnel. Luna screamed as she came again. "Fuck me, Ronald!" she cried, her hips thrusting up to meet his on every downstroke. He didn't know what was going on, this was so unlike Luna, but he wasn't complaining. It was making him harder than he'd ever been in his life, and he gladly complied with her demand. Her shrieks of rapture got higher and higher over the next ten minutes, bordering on only dogs being able to hear them. Ron's restraint was begining to falter. He was getting close to cuming, and wanted her to find her ultimate release at the same time, knowing that these orgasms she was having were _nothing_ compared to the one that finally sated her, but she didn't seem to be close to that yet.

"Luna, please," he groaned after a few more minutes. "Please, I need to cum!" He closed his eyes as she slammed her hips into his, forcing him to take a tighter hold on his willpower. His body began to shudder with the effort it was taking him to keep from losing his load into her depths.

"Ronald," her voice deepened to a throaty whisper. He looked into her eyes and saw the sign he'd been waiting so desperately for. "Cum for me." She'd never said that before, and Ron was so turned on by it, that even if she hadn't been serious, he wouldn't have been able to stop himself. He slammed his hips to hers one last time, screamed at the top of his lungs and shot what seemed like gallons into Luna's core. He vaguely registered that she'd gone over the peak with him and was crying out as he was, shaking with the force of her final orgasm. He collapsed on top of her, panting and trembling as his heart beat like it was trying to burst from his chest. Her arms wrapped around him, and she crooned softly in his ear as they both came back to reality.

"I need to tell you something," she whispered, but before Ron could ask what, the room was flooded with sunlight as three owls flew through the gap in the curtains of his open window.

"For Merlin's sake!" he cried, pushing off the bed and taking the letters from the birds with a little more force than was needed. The owls soared out the window as he crushed the envelopes in his hand, wondering when Harry and Hermione were going to tell him where they were, or even when they were going to come back. He tossed the letters onto his bedside table and turned back to Luna. "Sorry about that," he said. "What did you want to tell me?" Her eyes grew worried and she bit her lower lip.

"I don't know if I _should_ tell you when you're this upset."

"I'm not upset, Luna. I just didn't want to be inturrupted by still more letters arriving for Harry or Hermione when you were trying to tell me something. I never realized how much post those two get!" he laughed, and sat back down on the bed. "Tell me." Luna took a deep breath.

"I'm pregnant."


	33. Harry Gets Inventive

Stripped Bare- Chapter 33

Harry Gets Inventive

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

Hermione listened to the sound of the shower running. Smiling to herself, she rolled over and snuggled down into her pillow, remembering the events of the night before. She and Harry had taken a walk in the forest surrounding their new campsite, Harry not wanting to stay anywhere for more than a day or two, and he'd started talking about their future. Hermione, not really knowing where the conversation was leading at the time, had only listened for the most part. When they'd found a clearing towards the center of the forest, they'd eaten a picnic lunch and lay on their backs staring up at the sky through the gaps in the tree branches.

The water shut off in the bathroom and Hermione's smile widened. Harry had _definitely_ needed that shower to loosen up his sore muscles after he'd had to climb a tree to get just the perfect flower for her, and had fallen while on his way back down. Hermione had tried so hard not to laugh, but the stuned expression on Harry's face had just been too much. Fortunately he hadn't been hurt, just banged around a bit. He'd landed on his bum and had winced for the rest of the day everytime he sat down or stood up, but as he'd triumphantly stated, he'd gotten the flower, which now sat in a glass of water next to her on the bedside table. Little did she know that the reason why he'd chosen that particular flower was because while she'd been in the shower after their arrival, Harry had gone in search of a hiding place. The object that he'd hidden now resided on the fourth finger of her left hand. The glitter from the diamond caught her eye and she couldn't help but let her smile grow into an all-out grin.

"Happy, are we?" came her new fiancé's voice. She turned towards him and nodded, taking in the fact that he wore nothing but a smile and an obvious intrest in her equal state of undress.

"I see you are too," she said, eyeing his erection hungrilly.

"I'm always like this around you, remember? It all started that night in December." He moved to the bed and crawled up next to her on his hands and knees. "The best night of my life," he added in a whisper.

"Mine too. Because it was then that I realized that my life was going to be infinitely better without that _jerk_ that I'd been about to marry." Harry stroked her shoulder lightly, slowly moving his fingers lower towards her breast, making her shiver. "And that I _was_ going to be able to have an orgasm during sex with someone."

"How'd you like to have a few right now?" He moved his position so that he could lower his head to her tightening nipple. Hermione gasped when the tip of his tongue rasped over her skin. His hand drifted to the curls covering her tingling sex, one finger slipping through to find the tight bud nestled inside.

"Oh God, Harry," Hermione moaned in a whisper. She clutched his raven haired head and arched her back while he continued teasing her both on top and below. His hand shifted so that it was now his thumb teasing her clit and his fingers were free to slide into her slick tunnel. She gasped her approval instantly.

"You like that, don't you?" Harry asked, moving to her other breast while he continued to finger fuck her.

"It feels so good, Harry," Hermione groaned. She didn't know how much of it she was going to be able to take, and felt her orgasm coming rapidly closer. Harry must have sensed this as well, because he increased the pace of his thumb to an almost feverish speed. Bright lights behind her closed eyelids, and Hermione was soaring through the outer reaches of space. She didn't even hear her scream as she came repeatedly over Harry's hand. The only thing she knew was that he didn't stop his delicious torture for a second.

"Touch me," he whispered, moving up to nibble on her earlobes and pulse point. His breath came out as a low moan when her fingers came into contact with his blood engorged shaft. Hermione giggled at his breath tickling her neck. "Tighter," he sighed as her hand wrapped around him.

"Wouldn't you rather have something _else_ grip you tighter?"

"Good point," he groaned and moved his body between her thighs, and still continuing his exquisite torture on her clit, somehow thrust into her without removing his fingers.

"Holy shit, Harry!" she squeaked. "Are you trying to stretch me out or something?"

"I don't think that my fingers are going to do that. Not like they are, anyway."

"What do you mean?" She felt one of his fingers curl inside her, pressing tightly on her upper wall, and centering unerringly on her g-spot. Her world exploded into a million stars as another orgasm slammed into her with the force of a Mack truck.

"Does that tell you?" he asked when she'd collapsed on the mattress. He pulled his hand away from her body and set in to driving her to a new peak with frenzied thrusts that made her yelp with delight. He rose up onto his knees, brought her legs over his shoulders and to her complete shock, he stood up so that she was now upside down and he was thrusting straight down into her soaked hole. This made another series of orgasms strike her, and Harry picked up the pace, desperate to cum himself.

"Harry, cum for me," Hermione moaned throatilly. "Come on, baby, cum for me." He met her eyes and stiffened, then poured his load into her shaking body. He stood above her, trembling violently until she brought her legs down from his chest, rolled to one side and held her hand out to him. Sinking gratefully to the bed, Harry lay on his pillow and closed his eyes.

"Harry, are you all right?" Hermione asked with concern. She'd never seen him like this before.

"I'm fine," he gasped. "But I don't think that I'll be doing _that_ too often. It took a lot out of me!"

Hermione snuggled up to her fiancé, and while she was listening to the sound of his thundering heartbeat, the two of them fell into a deep dreamless sleep.


	34. What She Has To Do

Stripped Bare- Chapter 34

What She Has To Do

Discalimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

"What do you want to do today?" Harry asked on the last day of their holiday. He'd been gathering firewood in the forest they'd arrived at two days previous and had come back to find Hermione had gotten up and was in the process of making breakfast.

"You still haven't told me what it is that you wanted to do on your broom," she answered, cracking eggs into a bowl.

"You'll find out tonight. I wanted to save it for last so that you would have something to _really_ remember on this trip."

"I have that, love." She flashed her left hand at him, and he grinned.

"Yes, there's _that_, but I meant something that's not going to be visible to the public." He wiggled his dark eyebrows at her and she giggled. "By the way," he continued, putting the wood down in the box by the stove and sitting at the table, "do you want to tell everyone right away, or keep it a secret?"

"I want to keep it a secret, of course," she answered immediately. "Except from our closest friends. I don't want the press having a field day with our engagement. It's going to be hard enough when they find out that we're married, I just want this to be private, for us, so that we can plan the wedding we want without the whole wizarding world knowing about it." She turned around to face him. "But when our wedding announcement _does_ make it into the paper, I want Stephen's jaw to hit the ground! Because I know that I've found someone that loves me for _me_, not just because he can get something from me, and wants to keep it going, plus get something on the side."

"Hermione, you know, you've never really talked about what happened. Don't you think you should? I don't want you to still be hurting over that jerk."

"Oh, I'm not hurting anymore, but maybe you're right. Maybe we should talk about it. So what do you want to know?"

"Only what you want to tell me."

"That would be everything." She returned to the eggs and while they were cooking on the stove, she started talking.

"You know that I met Stephen in my first year after Hogwarts. And at first, he was wonderful. He wanted to see me all the time, brought me flowers and gifts whenever her came to the flat." Harry nodded, remembering all this. "But you and Ron knew somehow, didn't you? You knew that he wasn't all he seemed?"

"We knew that something wasn't right with him after about the first week that you were together, but not what it specifically was. He just seemed, I don't know, 'sneaky' to us. I thought at first that it was just because we'd been around Malfoy too much or something, but it just got worse."

"And I don't know why _I_ didn't see it. And the thing that really gets me, is why did he propose in the first place? I mean, he wasn't going to be faithful to me in our relationship _before_ we were married, so why go into the whole production of pledging his fidelity to me in front of a whole audience?"

"Didn't you have any idea about it?"

"That's just it. No, I didn't. He was always very attentive to me- outside of the bedroom anyway. You remember how I told you I'd never had an orgasm with him?" Harry nodded. "It didn't bother me at first. I thought he was just nervous. But as time went on, I began getting frustrated. Really frustrated. How could he not see that I wasn't getting as much from sex as he was?"

"Did you talk to him about it?"

"Ha! He just blew me off, saying that he didn't have time to discuss it now, he'd get with me later. Then he'd bring me a present to say he was sorry, and stupid me, I'd forgive him. Then he asked me to marry him after we'd, as he would always put it, _got it on_, and at first I thought he was kidding. But I saw his expression get hurt and knew he'd been serious. Or at least I thought he was. I mean he did a pretty good impression of it if he hadn't been, what with the plans and all." She served up their eggs and sat across from him to eat. "The rest of it you know." To her surprise, Harry started laughing softly. "What's so funny?" she asked, just that he found the fact that her former fiancé humiliating her humorous.

"Oh, nothing. I was just thinking back to that day you watched me rehearse my routine."

"What about it?"

"We started talking about what you would do if you were going to marry either Ron or me?"

"Oh!" she exclaimed, her eyes widening as she recalled it now.

"So I was sort of wondering, does this mean you have to move out of the flat now? It's actually a viable question now. Not hypothetical." Hermione's eyes became unfocused as she thought.

"I _really_ don't want to do this, but my parents would have a fit if I didn't. I'm sorry, Harry," she leveled her stare at him again. "But until our wedding, I'm going to have to move out of the flat."


	35. Owls And Announcements

Stripped Bare- Chapter 35

Owls And Announcements

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

Harry dropped his bag on his bed and went to Hermione's room. He stood in the door watching her as she magically packed her belongings into three suitcases and one box. She finished and turned to him. He smiled at her half-heartedly.

"I'm so sorry, Harry, but you know I have to do this." He nodded. "And it's not forever. As soon as we're married, I'll be back." She looked around the now bare room. "The sooner the better. I'm going to go crazy at my parents for the next few months."

"Am I going to be able to see you at all? Other than when we're planning for the wedding, that is?"

"Of course! I don't intend to be celibate until our wedding day. No way in hell!" Harry laughed and held out his arms. She walked into them and squeezed him around the waist until he grunted, then stepped back and kissed him lightly.

"I'd better get going. The longer I wait, the harder it's going to be for me to leave." She levitated the cases and box to the living room and after she'd shrunk them down to pocket size, she slipped them into her purse and with one last longing look at Harry, Disapparated from the flat. He sighed in slight depression and returned to his room, where he found an imense stack of letters on his dresser.

"Hmmm," he said softly, "Looks like everyone in the wizarding world knew I was on holiday and decided to write me! I need to get a new owl." He felt a slight pang of sorrow as he remembered Hedwig and how she'd died in his attempt to get from the Dursley's to the Burrow before his seventh year. He'd put off getting a new owl for too long, he knew, but he'd not been able to bring himself to replace the first friend and pet he'd ever had.

"Pig needs a new friend," he chuckled as he put away his things and started sorting through the massive stack of post. He worked on the task as well as he could for about an hour, trying not to think about how desperately he was already missing Hermione, and actually made quite a bit of headway when he decided to take a break and go to Diagon Alley to see if he could find a new owl that suited him. When he'd Apperated into the Leaky Cauldron, he was greeted loudly by the crowd, and it took him a few minutes to make it to the back courtyard and the entrance to Diagon Alley.

"Looks like Hermione was right about keeping our engagement a secret," he muttered to himself as he waited for the archway to fully open. He headed straight for Eyelops Owl Emporium. The store merchant smiled as he entered.

"What can I do for you, Mr. Potter?" she asked. Harry looked around at the many cages and perches, each bearing an owl that watched him with their large eyes.

"I want to buy an owl, but after what happened to..." The woman held up her hand.

"Say no more. I remember your owl. Quite intelligent, and extremely loyal." Harry nodded as she came around the counter. "You're not sure what type of owl to get, I take it?"

"No. I _do_ know that I don't want another snowy. That would just remind me of Hedwig."

"Let's see what we can find for you." She led him around the small shop, asking questions about him and guaging his personality until she narrowed his search down to two possible choices, both of which Harry liked very much. Five minutes later, he exited the shop with his new owl, a large extremely rare black male, his feathers gleaming in the sunlight as he slept peacefully in his cage, carried the bird back to the Leaky Cauldron and returned to the flat. The owl didn't seem to mind Apparition, and continued to doze when he was set upon the coffee table a minute later. Harry studied him.

"So," he said. "What am I going to call you?" He sat on the sofa and thought for a while. "If you'd wake up, I would have a better idea," he chuckled. This roused the owl, who looked at his new master curiously. It gave him a low hoot, and Harry reached out to open the cage. The bird hopped out onto his extended arm and nipped at his fingers with ready affection. Harry smiled sadly as he thought of how Hedwig had done just that so many times.

"Any preference on what your name will be? I can't call you 'Owl' all the time." The bird simply set in to cleaning his feathers and rustling his wings. Harry spotted three white spots in a line on the owl's stomach. This reminded him of his Astronomy classes at Hogwarts. "How about Orion?" He recieved another playful nip on his fingers.

"All right, Orion it is." The newly named bird hopped from Harry's arm and fluttered onto the tabletop, stretching his elegant black wings. He flapped them a few times and shook his head before starting in on cleaning his feathers again. Harry laughed at the way his new owl seemed to already be comfortable in his new home. He thought about the spots on Orion's stomach and was unsurprised when he instantly grew hard. He groaned ruefully as he remembered that Hermione was at her parents' house now, and it was up in the stars that he'd taken her on his broom the night before. He had no chance of her helping him relieve the almost unbearable pressure building up in the front of his jeans now. He grinned sheepishly at Orion when the owl eyed him with what appeared to be an almost _knowing_ expression. At least, that's how Harry felt. He sighed and pulled a pillow over his lap as he heard a key in the door lock.

"Hi, Ron," he said, looking up as his red-haired friend entered

.

"Hi, Harry," Ron returned distractedly. He spotted Orion on the table and said, "Finally got a new owl?" Harry nodded and frowned as he looked Ron over. His friend was dressed in a manner that was, to put it plainly, _strange_. At least it was for Ron, who'd gone to great lengths since moving to London to make sure that he no longer wore his older brothers' hand-me-downs. He was wearing a blue and green pullover, inside out and backwards, his trousers a hideous shade of orange (Harry couldn't even begin to _think_ where those had come from), his socks were reminiscent of Dobby, neither one the same color as the other, and they were different lengths, and his shoes not only didn't match either, but one was a dress shoe, presumably from the tuxedo he was to have worn back in September. His vivid red hair was sticking up and matted all over his head, and was badly in need of a wash.

"Ron? Are you all right?" he asked. Ron flopped down in an armchair with a 'Whumph". He brought one hand up to his forehead.

"I don't know," he said with a groan. "It's just been chaos around here since you and Hermione left on your holiday. Owls arriving every other second from absolutely _everywhere_, I don't even want to get into the mess that they made and I wasn't able to forward any of them to you..."

"Hermione and I used the charms from when we were in hiding," Harry explained.

"Then Luna comes over a few days after you left and tells me she's pregnant..." Ron went on, not acknowledging that he'd heard Harry, who now shot straight up in his seat.

"WHAT!" he squawked, frightening Orion, who hooted and took off to sit on top of a curio cabinet in the corner of the room.

"Yeah, Luna's pregnant."

"Is she sure? I mean, we just saw her right before Hermione and I left..."

"She's about two months, but when she suspected, she did a detectment charm. It came out as 'yes'."

"Well, do you want the baby?" Harry asked cautiously.

"Of course I do. I've just been in shock, that's all."

"That would explain how you're dressed."

"What? Oh, bloody hell!" Ron spat as he looked down at himself now. "I can't believe this."

"And you should see your hair." The redhead brought a hand up to his head and felt the disaster on top.

"Urgh. It feels like an oil slick and probably looks the same." He stood up and headed towards the hall. "I can't think I let myself walk around like this. I mean, what the hell am I wearing? I didn't even know I _owned_ orange trousers." As he said this, said garment began to change into a pair of faded blue jeans, and his shirt turned itself around so it was on the right way. His shoes and socks, however, remained the same. "I _knew_ it! George had something to do with this! He's been teasing me about how distracted I've been and obviously changed my clothes when I wasn't paying attention. Probably when I was about to Apperate from the Burrow."

He set off down the hall to the bathroom, returning about fifteen minutes later, his red hair plastered to his scalp where he hadn't rubbed at it with the towel that was knotted around his waist. He made his way to a laundry basket Harry hadn't noticed by the door, and after rummaging around in it for a few seconds, unearthed a change of clothes, disappeared down the hall again and came back fully dressed in another pair of old jeans and a blue t-shirt bearing the name of the popular wizarding band, the Weird Sisters.

"That's better," he sighed, sitting back down and looking around the room. He grinned at Orion, who'd come back down from the cabinet and was now asleep in his cage once more. "So what are you going to call it?"

"His name is Orion."

"Hermione help you pick him out?" He looked around the room again. "Where _is_ Hermione?"

"At her parents'. She's staying there for a while." Now it was Ron's turn to be shocked.

"Why? Did you two have a row or something?"

"No, nothing like that." Harry met his friend's blue eyes and smiled. "She's just staying there until our wedding day."


	36. Hermione Is Surprised Twice

Stripped Bare- Chapter 36

Hermione Is Surprised- Twice

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

Harry shook out his arms and legs, then rolled his head around on his neck. The cuffs of his suit jacket sleeves settled around his wrists, he tugged his tie to the center and grinned at his reflection. He knew he was going to be called out in a minute, and hoped that Hermione liked what she was about to see. He'd made only a few minor changes, but they'd be more than obvious to her. Ron had helped him think of ideas for this, purely to surprise Hermione, and because neither of them had had too much to do over the last few days. Luna and her father were away on holiday, visiting relatives and announcing to them the coming member to the Lovegood family. Ron had told his own family and they were more than thrilled.

Mrs. Weasley had cried with happiness that she was about to have another grandchild, Fleur and Bill hadn't been in too much of a hurry to have another child after the birth of their daughter, Victoire, George had just married Katie Bell, and they told her they wanted to wait a while before having children, the same from Ginny and Seamus, Percy and Pennelope Clearwater had just ended their long relationship, and Charlie had no prospects of a lasting girlfriend. Harry knew that Molly was still grieving over the fact that Fred and Alicia had lost their first child by miscarriage less than two weeks after they'd told everyone that they were expecting last year, and wanted her children to give her as many grandkids as possible, especially after she'd heard what had happened in Hermione's dream version of the year between her, Harry and Ron's sixth and seventh years.

Harry was brought out of his reverie by his name being called from the next room. He took a deep breath and moved to the door to await his cue. When it came, he headed out onto the floor amid screams from the women in the audience. He moved around the room, shedding his clothes as he went, wanting to go to Hermione only when he'd removed his pants, so that he'd be near her when his second song started. He chuckled when he saw that she'd come not only with Maureen, Kailah, Andrea and Ginny, but also her mum, a few of her female cousins and even _Molly_ (Ginny must have dressed her as she was wearing a blue Muggle dress and attracting the attention of no one for once), who were cheering for him just as loudly as the rest. This was going to be _interesting_. He reached their table and leaned down over Ginny, placing his hands on either side of her seat, bending down until his head was almost in her lap. He heard her squeal as he moved in a serpentine motion up her torso, his teeth nipping at her shirt all the way and grinned at her.

"Thank you, Harry," she said, tucking a pound note into his thong.

"You're welcome," he answered when he pulled away to move around the table. He made Hermione's mother and Mrs. Weasley blush when he got to them, and he left the group without going near Hermione, but he winked at her to let her know that he'd be back. He went to the next table and sat on the lap of the woman closest to her chair. He ground his pelvis into the woman's lap, making her giggle hysterically, and leaned back to wink at his fiancée again. She grinned back at him as he stood up and made his way around the table to another woman, then another, then came back to her as his set was coming to its end.

He took her hand, pulled her out of her chair and turned her around. She wondered what it was that he was going to do, and nearly screamed her surprise when she felt him grab hold of her hips and slam his own into her upturned bum not once, not twice, but four times! Then he spun her around, leaned over and turned her upside down, so that her face was level with his crotch and his with hers. Maureen, Ginny, Kailah and Andrea were all cheering, and even her mother and Mrs. Weasley were clapping! But Harry continued to astonish her when she felt his mouth fall onto her denim covered sex and hum- hard. The vibrations began to send shivers of desire to her center and when he put her down, she was more than a bit aroused. He leaned in to kiss her when she was on her feet once more and had tucked the money that had been in her hand into his thong.

"Please come to the flat tonight," he pleaded in her ear. She nodded against his shoulder. She would find a way to get out of her parents house without them knowing where she was going. They would go ballistic if they knew that she was going to see her fiancé to have sex with him. They hadn't even known that she'd been sleeping with Stephen before the day of their failed wedding. Her father had said to her just a few days earlier that they were proud of her for remaining pure until she and Harry were married. Her mother smiled at her now, and laughed when her daughter blushed. Hermione thought it was because her mum still believed her to be a virgin, but when Mrs. Granger leaned over leaned over to her, what she said made her daughter's jaw drop.

"I'll tell your father some story tonight so that you and Harry can be together." Hermione grabbed her mother's hand and dragged her to the loos. When the door was shut behind them, Mrs. Granger chuckled at Hermione's expression. "Love, don't look so surprised. Even though your dad is clueless, I've known about you and Harry since Christmas!"

"But...We haven't..." Hermione blurted.

"Hermione Jean. I was heading to the bathroom that night and saw Harry going into your room. Then it got really quiet in there so I figured that you or he had put some charms on the room to keep everyone from hearing, and I checked his room about an hour later when your _father_ went to the bathroom. Harry wasn't there."

"We were just talking and didn't want to wake up anyone if we started laughing too hard or something."

"Uh huh, and the love bites on your necks the next morning were from the laughter or the charms?" Hermione blushed. She'd forgotten about those. She and Harry had woken up after only a few hours sleep and had been more than a little energetic in their lovemaking, drawing the skin of each other's neck in between their teeth repeatedly, leaving more than one mark each time. They'd both attempted to cover the love bites with a roll neck jumper the next morning, but apparently, not very successfully.

"Why didn't you just remove them with a spell or something?"

"We didn't know one," her daughter muttered with a giggle.

"Now I _do_ know that the two of you weren't together until Valentine's Day, but it's not my business to question who you sleep with or when, although I would like to know why in the world you gave your virginity to that total git that you were to marry back in September?"

"You got me!" Hermione exclaimed and they started laughing, hugged and returned to their seats.


	37. The Ruse

Stripped Bare- Chapter 37

The Ruse

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

"Hermione Granger! You cannot be serious!"

"You shrieked, Ginny?" Hermione asked, coming around the kitchen door later that evening, carrying a tray laden with drinks and snacks for her, Andrea, Maureen, Kailah and Ginny, who was standing in the corridor staring at her indignantly at the moment.

"You _cannot_ expect me to watch this!" Ginny held up a lime green video case bearing a red and white drawing on the front.

"Actually, that was Maureen's choice, not mine. And you know _**Ghostbusters**_ isn't that bad." She passed her friend and entered the living room. "I picked _**Titanic**_."

"So we have a choice," Ginny said, rolling her green eyes. "A movie about fake ghosts, or a sinking ship."

"Or _**American Pie**_," Kailah piped up from her seat on the floor in front of the television. The five of them had come back to Hermione's parents' house after a stop at the video store for a girls' night in. At least, that's what they wanted her father to believe. Her mother, however, had come up with a plan- the five friends would come back to the house with movies and snacks, appearing that they were going to have a slumber party of sorts, then when her father was asleep and she'd been given the all clear, Hermione was going to Apparate to the flat and spend the night in Harry's arms, but return before the alarm clock went off in her parents' room at seven the next morning.

"I want to watch _**Exorcist**_," Andrea intoned. Hermione, Kailah and Maureen turned to look at her in astonishment, and Ginny in confusion.

"_**Exorcist**_?" Ginny asked.

"That's the one then," Hermione said, shuddering at the thought of having to watch the horror movie. But if Ginny didn't know what it was, then she wouldn't be able to voice a complaint before they'd started it. "Someone give Ginny a pillow to scream into." She pressed the close button on the DVD player and headed back to her spot with the remote as Andrea passed Ginny a cushion, which the redhead took with a bit of bewilderment. "It's the _**VersionYou've Never Seen**_."

"I've never even _heard_ of it, so how could it be the version I've never seen?"

"That just means that it has bits put in that were originally cut out of the movie. You know, that weren't part of it when it was in theaters?" Maureen answered. "But since you haven't seen any of it, this will be the _first_ version you've seen." She chuckled at her joke while the others groaned. Ginny discovered the reason for the pillow as she watched the movie. She was so on edge during it that when someone cleared their throat from the doorway near the end, she shot out of her seat and let out a high pitch shriek.

"Shhhhhhh!" her friends admonished her. It was Hermione's mother, coming to tell her that her father had fallen asleep and it was safe for her to leave now. Maureen and Kailah stuffed one of the sleeping bags strewn around the floor with extra pillows, Ginny transfigured another to look like Hermione's bushy hair, and Hermione herself charmed the sleeping bag to rise and fall in simulated breathing to make it 'really' appear as if someone was sleeping inside it.

"Now _that's_ spooky," Andrea said, eyeing the bag.

"But necessary," Hermione replied as she pulled on the clothes she'd been wearing that evening and hurried to find her shoes.

"Luv, why in the world are you bothering to get dressed?" Kailah asked. "You're just going to have to change back into your jammies when you come back."

"I know, I'm taking them with me, but Harry asked me to wear this to the flat." She slipped on her shoes and grabbed the bundle that was her pajamas, ready to Apparate.

"Have fun!" her friends told her, grinning as she moved to a clear part of the room.

"Oh, I will," she said, and was gone. Her mother went back upstairs and slid back into her bed. She was just about to fall asleep when her husband spoke next to her.

"So, has Hermione left to go see Harry yet?"


	38. Remembering and Reliving

Stripped Bare- Chapter 38

Remembering and Reliving

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

"Ron, don't you have to get to the Burrow soon?" Harry asked, anxiously checking the clock for the fifth time in as many minutes. Hermione would probably be at the flat any minute and Harry didn't want Ron to postpone their time alone together, they had so little as it was. But the redhead didn't seem to hear him. He was rifling through the bag he'd packed to take with him to the Burrow, and was muttering about a certain item that he couldn't remember if he'd packed or not.

"I have to make sure that I packed those invitations that Mum and Luna had me pick up in Diagon Alley for them. They're for Luna's baby shower."

"She's only three months pregnant."

"Oh, it's not until October, but the store isn't going to be carrying the design that Luna wanted, so they had me go get the rest of the stock that the shopowner could find." He snapped his fingers and hurried back to his room, returning with a large pearl blue box.

"How many people are they inviting?" Harry asked when he saw it.

"All the Weasleys, Luna's family, you, Hermione, Kailah, Maureen, Andrea..."

"I get it!" Harry blurted, thinking that Ron was about to list off everyone they knew. He looked at the clock again as Ron zipped up his bag and shouldered it.

"I'll see you late tomorrow afternoon. Mum and Luna want me to stay after the planning session so that I can get their newest shopping list." He moved over to the Apparition spot and was gone.

"Finally," Harry sighed with relief. He decided to use magic to speed up his preperations and within a few minutes, his bedroom had been transfigured to look like Hermione's favorite place. Outside of a library or bookstore, that was. It was the last place he'd taken her during their holiday.

_The two of them mounted his broomstick and after spinning around for a few seconds, just flew off in the direction they'd been pointing and had landed on a small deserted island about a hundred miles off the coast of Greece. Hermione had been enchanted by the view and the clearing they'd found in the woods there. Harry decided to use this spot to show her what it was that he wanted to do with her on his broom. They flew up into the clouds that had been gathering that evening and Harry used the cover to hide them as he cast charms to keep himself and Hermione from slipping from the broomstick. When that was done, he turned her around towards him and slipped a hand down between her slightly parted thighs._

_"I want you to ride me while we're flying," he whispered to her as he used his other hand to unbutton her blouse, revealing that she'd decided to go without a bra that night. Her nipples grew instantly hard as the cool air blew across them._

_"Are you sure that we'll be safe?" she asked, her breath catching a bit as he lowered his head to capture one of her breasts in his teeth._

_"Perfectly safe. We have a protective bubble around us. Believe it or not, I got the idea from Voldemort. He kept that snake in one when he was trying to keep me from killing it, remember?" Her fingers threaded through his hair to hold him close as he teased her peaks to diamond hardness. "I'd been testing the charm at various heights when I had the prototype broom and never fell once." Hermione froze in place._

_"Various heights?" she said. Harry nodded. "How high did you go?"_

_"About right here," he answered, looking down at the darkening ground far below them. Hermione's eyes followed his. She gasped when she saw exactly how high up they were._

_"Harry! You could have been killed!" she sqeaked indignantly. "Suppose the charm needed a certain amount of oxygen that couldn't be obtained up here?"_

_"Hermione, do you really think that I wouldn't have thought of that? I actually did the research on protective spells. I found this one in a family spell book. It's to protect children, and it said that it was guaranteed to keep a weight limit of one hundred and fifty stone from falling. Now," he looked her over and licked both of her nipples again. "I know that you and I combined don't even come _near_ one hundred and fifty stone, so we're safe. I think at the absolute most we weigh nineteen, and that's including the broom. So relax and enjoy this."_

_"Um, not to put a damper on this, but what are we going to do about our clothes?" Harry chuckled._

_"Hermione, you worry too much about things that I've already taken care of." He flicked his wand, their clothing disappeared and a small cloth covered bench seat appeared along the broom's handle to give them a bit more comfort. He resumed licking and nipping at her flushed breasts, the fingers of the hand still between her legs stroking her dampening center. She put one of her arms around his neck to brace herself and dropped her hand to his already stone hard erection, sliding from base to tip and back as he delved his fingers deeper into her wetness._

_"Oh my God, Harry," Hermione sighed. She closed her eyes when her hair fluttered into them as they soared higher into the cloud cover, the Hurricane moving along unerringly through the fluffy mass. She was enjoying the way the breeze created by the broom's movement felt on her body and couldn't wait to experience what Harry had told her that they were up here to do._

_"Come here," he ordered, pulling away from her nipples and lifting her to envelope his member in her tight sheath. She moaned as his cock pressed against her inner pleasure center while his thumb relentlessly stimulated her clit, sending her into an orbital orgasm. When she came back to reality, she started to do exactly as he had requested by riding him._

_"Holy shit!" he exclaimed. "This is even better than I thought it would be!" Hermione's eyes met his and she was enthralled by how glazed and glassy they looked in the heat of passion. This being the first time she'd seen them like this in an outdoor setting, she felt herself get even wetter, and Harry's cock slid in and out of her faster and faster as she frantically bounced on his lap. The breeze turned into a wind as the Hurricane picked up speed and their moans and gasps were soon drowned out by the noise of the air around them. _

_Hermione threw her head back and let out a barely heard scream when a series of orgasms flowed over her and the contractions from her walls made Harry's release slam into him with the force of the Hogwarts Express. His own cry was swallowed by the wind rushing past them as they sped through the sky. The broom began to slow down as they panted and clung to each other, finally stopping when their heartbeats had returned to normal._

_"Where are we?" Hermione asked, looking down and seeing nothing but water below them. Harry, having miraculously managed to hold onto his wand during all their activity, placed it flat on one palm and recited the spell that had helped him back in the maze challenge during their fourth year. The wand spun around in his hand, stopping to point in a direction somewhere over his left shoulder._

_"Our tent is that way," he said, indicating the direction with a jerk of his head. Hermione began to shiver as another breeze floated over them. Harry helped her turn back around on the broom and after wrapping his arms around her to keep her warm, they started back to their campsite._

"Harry?" He shook his head as Hermione's voice brought him back to the present.

"Be right there!" he called in answer. One more flick of his wand and the room was finished. He nodded with satisfaction and went out to find his fiancée sitting on the sofa, softly chuckling to herself.

"What's so funny?" he asked.

"My mother. She devised a whole plan for me to get here tonight. She even had a backup plan ready if my father didn't fall asleep before midnight." She told him what her mother had come up with and stood up. "Now, why did you want me to wear this? I had to go to all the trouble to change clothes twice tonight, and I'm not intending to stay dressed for long, you know. It would just have been easier for me to stay in my pajamas."

"Because I wanted to have the fun of seeing you in that shirt again." Hermione looked down at the silk and spandex halter she was wearing.

"Why?"

"Because I want to see how hard your nipples can get against it," Harry answered and took her hand to lead her to the bedroom.

"But I have a bra on underneath it."

"Not for long," he said and flicked his wand as they walked down the corridor. Hermione felt the inside of the soft fabric and her nipples instantly began to pebble from the new friction. Harry led her into his bedroom and she gasped.

"Oh, Harry! This is wonderful!"

"You like it?" he asked grinning.

"It's perfect. This is the clearing from that island off Greece, isn't it?" He nodded.

"You remember what we did that night? When we went up on my broom?"

"Of course, but what I remember more was what we did in the waterfall when we had come back down." Harry held up a hand and led her to the far side of the transfigured clearing and pulled aside a curtain of vines. On the other side was a replica of said waterfall that fell into a mid-thigh depth pool.

"How did you keep me from hearing it?" she asked.

"How else? Silencio." He removed the charm and helped her up onto the ledge of the pool. She heard not the sound of water, but the song that she had pursuaded Harry to dance with her to after he'd proposed to her. He'd initially laughed when she'd insisted that they dance to Kylie Minogue's _**I Can't Get You Out Of My Head**_ when she'd found it on the wireless that she'd enchanted to work without batteries, but had become more and more turned on as she'd twisted and turned with him in the clearing where he'd hidden her ring.

"Thinking of trying to get me in bed, Potter?" she smirked, reaching up to slide the straps of her top off her shoulders.

"It crossed my mind," he answered, tugging his own shirt over his head and joining her. He watched the water swirling around her legs and beckoned her closer so he could reach the fastenings.

"I'm soaked now, you realize that, don't you?" she said as he lowered his head to her breasts.

"I want you that way."

"You mean from the water, or from what you're doing?" she sighed in pleasure. Her head fell back into the stream of warm water.

"Both," he said, continuing to nibble on her flushed skin. He succeeded in undoing her jeans and slid a hand inside, moving her skimpy briefs asided to finger her clit.

"Harry!" she gasped.

"I want you out of this," he whispered, moving his mouth up to the pulse point in her throat. "Now." She pulled away and shoved the sopping denim from her legs, nearly toppling in her hurry to rid herself of them. Harry caught her arm before shed fell and brought her back up against his chest.

"What about you?" she giggled. He grinned at her and summoned his wand from where he'd dropped it upon entering the room. His own clothes were gone a second later and Hermione wasted no time in sinking to her knees and taking Harry's entire length down her throat.

"Do you know how hot you look down there?" he groaned. She looked up at him as she licked and sucked his member, adding a hand near his base while the other ran over her pebbled nipples just under the water. Harry reached down to pull her up a second later, to which Hermione announced her displeasure.

"But I wasn't done," she complained, but was immediately assauged when she heard his reply.

"I want to do the same to you." He sat her on the edge of the wall around their little waterfall and pushed her knees apart. Hermione assisted by lifting both legs and laying them over his shoulders as he sank down to feast on her sopping pussy.

"Oh, Harry," Hermione whimpered while his tongue flicked over her clit and darted in and out of her dripping hole.

"Tell me," Harry asked.

"Tell you what?"

"Tell me what you want me to do to you right now."

"Finger fuck me." Harry grinned up at her and inserted two fingers into her tunnel. Hermione's head fell back and she cried out her orgasm, her hands clenching in Harry's hair. "Don't stop, Harry, don't stop!" He added another finger and she screamed even louder with another orgasm when his thrusts began to gain speed, but she again voiced her dismay when he pulled away the next minute.

"I have to be inside you," he said, and lowering her legs to rest around his waist, lifted her off the wall. One of Hermione's arms went around his neck and a grin formed on her mouth as she reached between them to guide his cock into her waiting opening. They sighed as Harry reached his hilt, both staying completely still until Hermione could no longer bear it.

"Do it, Harry," she groaned, begging him to fuck her with bucking movements of her hips. He moaned and did just as she asked. "Oh my GOD! Haaaaaarrrrrryyyyyyy!" From the angle his erection was penetrating her from, he was pressing tight against her hot spot, and climaxes started rolling through her body, one on top of the other. She didn't know if she could handle much more of this!

"I want you to come home," he whispered, slowing his thrusts to prolong their delicious agony, and held her closer to his chest.

"Harry, do we have to talk about this now?" Hermione panted, ready to cum again and 'any' conversation not associated with what they were doing was going to ruin it for her.

"Not right now, no. But I _do_ want to talk about it sometime before you leave tomorrow." He was starting to feel the familiar sensations that told him he was going to explode, so he fell silent and resumed his former pace. One, two, three more orgasms for her and Harry reached his own with a yell that said his throat was going to be raw for the next few days.

'How long had _that_ been building up?"

"Since the last time we made love," he croaked. The look on her face showed the evidence she was impressed at his willpower. "Accio," Harry said hoarsly, summoning his wand from the floor. He conjured towels from leaves of a close-by fern, then returned their surroundings to their usual appearance. Hermione wrapped the towel he handed her around her body and walked over to the bed, flopping lengthwise on it with a sigh.

"This feels so good!. I forgot how comfortable your bed is."

"You could sleep in it every night if you came home," he said, settling down next on the bed as well and cuddling up to her. The conversation didn't go any farther though, as both of them were asleep the next minute.


	39. Ron Announces His Engagement

Stripped Bare- Chapter 39

Ron Announces His Engagement

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

Harry stood in front of his bedroom mirror, eyeing his costume critically. He'd been wondering how to make improvements on his routine, and thought that if he studied what he wore during his set could give him an idea.

"I don't know why you're so picky about your routine," Ron said from across the room. Harry smirked and turned to face his friend.

"I'm trying to get Hermione to come home."

"How is your act going to get her to come home?"

"That's what I'm trying to figure out. You know you could put that down and help me." Ron grinned sheepishly as he set the plate he'd brought with him from the kitchen when Harry'd called for him to come and talk.

"You know that your wedding is in a few months, can't you wait until then?"

"No. It's only the end of June, Ron. The wedding isn't until September. I've had to be without her since we came back from our holiday, and it's driving me absolutely mad!"

"Huh. Could have fooled me."

"What?"

"Come on, mate. You think I don't know that Hermione's been over here no less than four times since the two of you got engaged? And I don't mean for planning your wedding." Now it was Harry's turn to be sheepish.

"What can I say?" he shrugged. "I love her and I can't stand being apart from her. You feel the same way about Luna don't you?" Ron grinned and nodded.

"That's why we're getting married, too." Harry's green eyes widened slightly and he chuckled.

"Well, I'm thrilled to hear that, but don't you think that the baby would have the _slightest_ bit to do with it?"

"A very small bit. I was going to ask her anyway. The baby just gave me the incentive to do it."

"Ron, forgive me for being a bit dim, but... why would a baby be incentive to ask the woman you love to marry you?"

"Because I had a better chance of her saying _yes_. I know that sounds stupid and sexist..."

"A bit," Harry inturrupted.

"But I was afraid she'd say _no_ if it hadn't been for the baby."

"So you see it as the baby was sort of a way to make her acceptance of your proposal a sure thing?"

"No! Nothing like that. I wanted to ask Luna to marry me before she told me she was pregnant, for the same reason as you and Hermione. When she said she was going to have my baby, I wanted to marry her even more. That's what pushed me to do it. I want to be a family with her, I want to wake up with her next to me every morning, I want her to be the last thing I see at night before I fall asleep. I want to be there when my baby gives its first smile and takes its first steps."

"Now _that's_ what I wanted to hear. You wanted to marry Luna just because you love her and want to be with her. The baby is a wonderful extension of your love for each other, right?" Ron nodded.

"I want her to be here. I'm tired of us not being able to be together all day. She said she's going to move in here as soon as she can get someone to help her father on a regular basis."

"Oh. Is she having any luck?"

"Yeah, as a matter of fact. There's a woman that lives just over the next hill from them, and she's taken to Xeno. I think she fancies him, go figure."

"Harry? Ron?" Hermione's voice came from the living room. Harry lit up like the sun when he heard her, and Ron laughed.

"That's how I feel when I hear Luna." They headed to the front room, finding Hermione and her mother, as well as Mr. and Mrs. Weasley and Ginny.

"Ron, you have to be remeasured for your dress robes," his mother informed him. "Madam Malkin wants to make sure that she got the right length." Ron nodded as he sat next to his sister.

"She's only told you about a thousand times," Ginny whispered to him as soon as Mrs. Weasley had turned to talk to Harry and Hermione about what they were going to be wearing.

"I know. She's more obsessed about Harry's wedding than she was Bill's or yours!" They watched, barely controling their laughter as Harry and Hermione pulled faces behind Mrs. Weasley's back, varying between how bored they were hearing about their wedding clothes, which they hadn't even decided upon yet, and pure innocence when she turned to one or the other in turn.

"And, Hermione, I was wondering if you had chosen the veil yet?"

"I haven't chosen a _dress_ yet," Harry heard his fiancée mutter before she shook her head as Mrs. Weasley looked in her direction yet again. He had to force back a laugh as he didn't want to have to explain what was so funny, and Ron and Ginny weren't helping in the least!

"Well, I think I might have something for you. My cousin had a lot of material left over from her daughter's wedding a few years ago. It's very sheer, and should work well as a veil. Did you want to have a blusher as well?"

"We haven't really had time to think about the wedding for the last week, Mrs. Weasley," Hermione sighed. "It's been really busy at the Ministry." Mrs. Weasley's eyes shifted to Harry, who nodded quickly.

"On top of that, I've been really swamped with Mitch and his schedule." He glanced at the clock. "Speaking of which, I have to get going. We have an early show tonight. He wants to meet with us before we rehearse, and needs everyone there before five." He glanced over to Orion's perch. "Hermione, could you do me a favor if Orion comes back before you leave?" She nodded. "I'm expecting a reply from Oliver Wood about the performance of the Hurricane, I sent it to him about two months ago by Muggle post. I hadn't gotten anything back yet, so I had Orion deliver a little reminder. He might come back today. Could you bring the letter with you when you come to the show?"

"If he brings it, sure."

"Thanks." He gave her a kiss and moved to the Apparition spot. "See you all later!"

"Bye, Harry!" the others chorused as he disappeared, then returned to the planning that they'd been working on.


	40. Mitch's Big Idea

Stripped Bare- Chapter 40

Mitch's Big Idea

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

"So what's this meeting about?" Cameron asked as the members of the Kings of Hearts sat around at the start of their meeting.

"Yeah," said Kendall. "Why'd we all have to be here two hours early? What's so all fired important?"

"First off, I need to know how comfortable you lot are with your bodies." Looks of confusion surrounded him. "I have an idea that will bring us even more money than we're already getting, but I need to know that you're all O.K. with it. If not, then I have to call in some of the reserve guys to take the place of whoever thinks they can't handle this."

"Handle 'what'?" Harry asked. He was getting a bit exhasperated, as were the others. Mitch grinned wickedly at them.

"Going all the way."

"You're kidding right?" Brenden said, apparently being the first to cotton on to what was being discussed. All eyes turned to him. "You want us to go completely _starkers_!" Cameron and Shane immediately shook their heads.

"No way!" they both blurted out. "I am _not_ showing my wanker to a bunch of strange women," Cameron continued. Tyler, Jason, Kendall and Brenden agreed with him.

"I'll do it." Mitch looked gratefully to Harry, who'd been the one to speak.

"Thanks, Harry," he said. Harry nodded as the others began firing questions at him in rebutal.

"Are you _mad_?"

"Have you completely lost your marbles?"

"Hey!" he interuppted while the guys were clammoring over each other. "I'm still the newest guy here, and I think it's a bit funny that even though I'm the shyest, I'm also the one willing to do what Mitch asks tonight. What's the big deal? We're almost completely naked anyway."

"But are you really O.K. with showing _everything_ to the customers?" Brenden asked him.

"No, but I'll get past it. And so will the rest of you! Come on, guys, Mitch isn't asking a whole lot more of us than we're already showing." The others grumbled for a few more minutes, but in the end only two of them hadn't agreed to go completely naked.

"So I had to find replacements for Jason and Tyler. Not too bad," Mitch said to Harry as they started to bring in the equipment an hour later.

"I think it's because I was willing to do it that the others agreed," Harry replied, chuckling when Mitch thanked him again.

"You said that earlier," he reminded him.

"By the way, how's your girlfriend going to take you going all the way bare in this show? She's going to be here isn't she?"

Harry hadn't thought of that.

"I'm ringing home," he muttered, setting the speaker he was carrying down and hurried to the telephone. "Oi, Zeeke! Mind if I make a call?"

"Long as it's local, Harry," the bartender answered and returned to the conversation he was having with one of the waitresses. Harry rolled his eyes at Zeeke's antics of always hitting on anything female, and dialed his home number, hoping that Hermione would still be there.

"Come on, come on," he grumbled as the ringing of the phone continued. Finally a breathless Hermione answered.

"Hello?"

"Hermione, are you all right? You're breathing hard."

"I just got out of the shower. Ron is with Luna and the others left soon after you did, so I started getting ready for your show."

"Oh, I thought you were thinking of me," Harry said cheekily.

"Actually I _was_ thinking of you. I ran out the hot water I was in there so long."

Harry dropped his voice to a whisper. "Did you cum?"

"Five times," Hermione said sexily. He moaned under his breath. "So, what did you need, Love?"

"Well, now I need you," he said, shifting his weight to relieve the pressure his zipper was causing him now. "But the reason I called is that there's going to be a _big _surprise in the show tonight and I just want to make sure that you know about it ahead of time."

"What is it?" Hermione asked eagerly.

"Unuh, can't tell you. But you'll see tonight. Now I have to go, Mitch is starting to set up and I'm going to have to go to the loo to fix the state you have me in, you little minx."

"Cum hard for me, baby," his fiancée purred.

"Oh, I will," he groaned softly, said good-bye and hung up the phone. Looking over his shoulder to see if anyone would notice him and relieved that they wouldn't, Harry hurried to the men's room and locked himself in one of the stalls as soon as he'd checked that he was alone.

"Silencio," he whispered, flicking his wand at the door and walls of his cubicle, then freed himself from his jeans with a soft sigh. He knew that Hermione had been teasing him on purpose during their conversation and vowed to make her beg that night, but right now he was more concerned with relieving himself of his erection. He imagined what she'd been doing in the shower and it wasn't long before he was panting heavily while his hand flew up and down his blood-engorged shaft.

He turned around to face the toilet, knowing that he was going to orgasm soon and not wanting to risk anyone coming in and seeing the evidence of what he'd been doing before he could Scourgify it away. One, two, three more strokes, his hips jerked and his come began shooting in thick spurts. He knew he was probably drawing blood from biting his lower lip in attempt to keep silent even with the charm, but that only served to excite him more. His body finally relaxed and he slumped against the wall to his right as he pulled out his wand and said the charm to clean up his mess, then himself. He'd just removed the silencing charm when Kendall stuck his head around the door.

"You alright?" he asked as Harry exited the stall, wiping his face with his shirt tail.

"Yeah, just a bit nauseous about the idea Mitch had. I'll be fine once I've done it, though." Kendall nodded sympathecally and smiled.

"I know how you feel, I was the same way the first time I danced, but I didn't let it get to me and after a while, it passed." He eyed Harry's lip. "Did you know that you're bleeding, mate?" Harry brought a hand up to his mouth and touched a finger to it.

"Damn," he said, turning to the sink.

"How do you bite your lip when you're throwing up?" Kendall asked.

"I didn't actually throw up, but I was clenching my mouth shut when I came in here, just in case. I thought I felt my tooth go through my lip once." He pulled a wad of paper towels from the dispenser and wetting them, pressed a corner to the cut on his lower lip.

"Hey, you two. You wanna quit gossiping and hurry up? Mitch is giving us the line up for tonight and he wants you out here," Cameron said, coming halfway into the room.

"I'll be there in a minute, as soon as I take care of this," Harry said. Kendall and Cameron left the room and he pointed his wand to his mouth. "Cureal," he muttered and nodded with satisfaction when his lip mended instantly. Replacing his wand in his pocket, he pulled open the door and rejoined the Kings of Hearts for their line up.


	41. Harry Gets Into A Fight

Stripped Bare- Chapter 41

Harry Gets Into A Fight

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

Hermione held up an envelope as soon as she walked in the door and caught her fiancé's eye. He nodded and said something to Mitch, then headed over the table she and her friends were going to be sitting at.

"So we get special treatment now?" Kailah asked, indicating the 'Reserved' sign in the middle of the table.

"Being the fiancée of one of the dancers has its perks, Kailah," Harry said, kissing Hermione's cheek and thanking her as she handed him the letter.

"So what's this surprise we're supposed to be getting tonight? Not the table is it?" Andrea asked.

"No, but I'm not going to tell you anything about it. You'll just have to wait, but I promise it'll be worth it. How are you feeling, Luna?" The blonde looked up at him and smiled.

"Better now that the morning sickness is gone. I don't know why they call it that, as I had it all day most days."

"I don't know, either. Maybe it happens mostly in the morning?" A waitress came over to their table to take drink orders. "Sheila, I want you to give everyone at this table whatever they order for the entire night, and bring the bill to me." He received a happy round of thank you's from the table's occupants.

"You don't have to do that, Harry," said Ginny when Shiela had walked away.

"I know, but I'm feeling really generous tonight," he said, sitting down with them, and looking around at the huge room and the tables that were starting to fill up. "And also a bit nervous."

"Why?" Maureen asked. "You do this all the time, Harry."

"Yeah, but I still get nervous. Especially tonight." The rest of his table started firing questions at him about what was so special about tonight, but Harry merely brushed them aside.

"Aren't you going to tell us _anything_ about it?" said Maureen. "Not even a hint?"

"Nope, you're just going to have to wait like everyone else." Harry grinned and stood up. "I'll talk to you all later, O.K.?" He heard the others questioning Hermione as he walked away and laughed to himself.

"What's so funny?" Cameron asked as he reached the front of the room.

"You see that table behind me, the one with the six girls?"

"Yeah, I asked out that one on the left with the frizzy hair. She turned me down flat. Damn shame, I'd like to show her what I'd like to do to her ass."

"Watch what you say, Cam. She's my fiancée now."

"Oh! Sorry, Harry, I didn't mean to..."

"It's alright. When you asked her out, we weren't together yet." He smiled at the other dancer. "But we are now, so don't be getting any ideas."

"Harry!" He turned when Mitch called him. "Change of line up. Warren is going to be late, so you're up first, all right?" Harry nodded with a gulp. His stomach started doing a bit of a somersault, and he breathed deeply in attempt to settle it.

"Better you than me," Cameron said softly as they made their way to the dressing room to get their costumes in order when the tables were all nearly full.

"Thanks a lot, Cam," Harry said grimly. "You notice of course that Mitch never does things like this, he just thinks of new ways to torture us."

"That's because he's to old to dance," said Tad, the other replacement dancer as he followed them through the makeshift curtain. "And you know what they say about old strippers, don't you?" Harry, Cameron, Brenden and Kendall shook their heads. "Their balls hang too low to get them in the thong, then no one's going to want to be around when they start swinging!" He started gyrating his hips in emphasis.

Harry turned towards his bag to get his costume out with a roll of his eyes. He'd met Tad when he'd first started dancing and found the man abrasive, conceited and rude. He'd been glad when the dancer had decided to leave the group, although he believed Mitch had more to do with the decision than Tad. The two of them had never really gotten on very well, clashing just about every show about the way Tad acted while he was dancing. Harry remembered what he'd been told the night of his first show.

"You treat the customers like ladies, not whores, not sluts, _ladies_. You want to ask them out, fine, but you do it after the show on your time. You approach every one of them like they are the most important person in the room at the moment, and don't let me catch you even _thinking_ of making fun of any of them while you're on the floor, or you're out on your ass."

Harry knew that Tad had broken each of these rules more than once, and had been removed from a number of shows as a result. Tad announced that he was going to have a pee and as soon as he was out of earshot, the other dancers started in on him.

"Of all the guys that Mitch could have called, why _that_ asshole?" Kendall spat.

"You're telling me," Brenden said, "He ruins the business for the rest of us when he's out there. The women think we're all like that and don't want us near them."

"I say we tell Mitch to chuck him," Harry said, pulling one of the shirts they all wore before their individual sets over his head.

"I wish we could, but it's too late. He wouldn't be able to get another dancer in time for the start of the show."

"Then have them show up for a set later! It's happened before, and I personally don't want to be associated with that fucker again," Kendall grumbled in response.

"You're right, lads," Mitch said as he came through the curtain. "I'm going to tell him to go on home. Beacuse he's already started on Harry's friends' table." Harry stiffened.

"What?" he asked angrily.

"He was making nasty comments about one of your friends' hair." Mitch and the others shrank back as black sparks started shooting from Harry's fingertips.

"He's making fun of my fiancée?" he growled, knowing without being told that it had been Hermione. Mitch confirmed it a second later.

"Well, it's the one with the brown hair that's a bit frizzy." Harry clenched his fists and stormed from the room in search of Tad. Mitch followed, trying to reason with him.

"Don't do anything that you're going to be sorry for, Harry." Hermione heard this and looked up to see her fiancé and and Mitch hurrying past the table towards the loos.

"What's going on?" Andrea asked.

"I don't know," Ginny said, looking to Hermione, who could only shrug. They watched as Harry barged into the men's room, the door rebounding off the wall, and heard his voice rising in anger as he bellowed for someone called Tad. There was a bit of a scuffle, Mitch's voice, also angry, saying that one of the other two men was out of the show for what he was doing, and then the three of them came back out into the bar. The guy that had gone past their table earlier, appraising each of the women as he'd done so, now had a black eye and a bloody lip.

The now bruised man was dragged up to the bar, and the bartender, who picked up the phone when she was shown what Mitch had been holding in his clenched right hand, called two of the kitchen staff to stand watch. Harry, shaking with fury, but unhurt, stood against the wall by a jukebox. Hermione stood and hurried over to him.

"Harry? Are you alright?" He nodded, his eyes closed as he tried to calm himself. "What happened?"

"That motherfucker," Harry muttered, waving his hand in the general direction of Mitch and the other guy, "Was making fun of you, and I wasn't going to let him get away with it."

"You got into a fight with him?" Harry nodded again. Hermione was touched that he would defend her from even being teased, but... "You're not kicked out of the show, are you?"

"No, _he_ is. After I'd punched him, Mitch pulled us apart and a hypodermic needle fell out of Tad's pocket, along with a small vial of some sort of drug." He opened his eyes and looked towards the dressing room where Tad was now being put into handcuffs by a police officer. "Where did she come from?" he asked.

"She just got here. The bartender must have called the police when Mitch talked to him." Mitch came over to them now.

"You gonna be O.K. to start the show, or should I move Kendall up?"

"I'll start," Harry said, moving away from the wall and nearly falling over as his adrenaline rush started to fade now. Hermione caught him quickly and helped him to a chair.

"Maybe if you delayed the show for a bit, so he can get his mind back on dancing and off what happened?" Mitch nodded.

"I'll think about doing that," he said with a slow grin starting to form. "Might make the women a bit more eager for it to start. I'm going to see if I can get Curtis." With that, he walked away. The police woman came over to Harry and Hermione.

"Mr. Potter?" Harry looked up at her. "I'm going to need a statement from you about what happened." He nodded silently and stood. "Mr. Lange said that he's not going to charge you for hitting him, but wouldn't tell us what the fight had been about."

"It was about me." The woman turned her eyes to Hermione.

"Harry was defending my honor. He's my fiancée and said the other guy was making fun of me." The officer made a note in her pad.

"Did either of you see the drugs fall out of Mr. Lange's pocket?"

"I did," Harry said. "Mitch Carnes followed me into the men's room, trying to talk me out of beating the crap out of Tad, but I had to get in at least one punch for Hermione. Mitch broke in to seperate us before it got into a full blown fight, and when he'd gotten us apart, the needle and drugs fell out of Tad's pocket. Mitch took one look at him and knew that he'd just been shooting up whatever it was that was that had been in the needle."

"O.K.," the officer said a few minutes later. "I've got everything I need from you. I'm going to get Mr. Carnes's statement and get out of here." She thanked them and walked away. Harry and Hermione returned to the table, sitting down amid a barrage of questions, which they refused to answer, at least not while the police were still in the building. As soon as they were gone, however, Hermione told the others what had happened. Harry noticed Mitch waving to him from the dressing room and left the table to join him.

"I was just talking to the guys about how we're going to do this tonight. You know how we keep hearing that I need to get a new sound system?"

"Yeah," Harry laughed. "I get it about twelve times a night that your speakers are nearly shot." His nerves were calming now that the whole thing with Tad was over, but then he remembered, and they flared up again. "Anyway..."

Mitch headed back through the curtain, Harry following. "Brenden! Tell Harry your idea."

"Cameron was wondering how we were going to start out that we were going to be going all the way naked, and it popped in my head that Mitch said that this was to bring in more money, then about how we need a new sound system, right? Then I thought, why not use the surprise as a reward for the women helping pay for it?"

"You're kidding, right? They're not going to go along with that."

"Actually, we tell them that we've been hearing their complaints about the way the music sounds, so we have a surprise for them tonight and if they'll put in, say, £3, we promise to have a new sound system by the next show."

"You know," said Kendall. "This _is_ the first show of the summer, and it's going to be getting really hot in here. Mitch, you could say something along the lines of how we're all getting really warm and need to remove just a bit more when we're down to just our thongs." This all met with a round of agreement.

"Yeah, but when are we going to be asking them about the £3? Surely not when we're dancing?" Cameron asked.

"No. I'm going to start the show out telling the audience about the sound system, and ask if they'll help us get a new one, we'll give them an _extra special_ surprise," Mitch answered. "That way they'll get their money's worth and get excited at the same time." He looked at his watch. "Time to start getting ready, lads." Harry and the others finished getting ready for the t-shirt sales and teaser, then followed Mitch out onto the floor.

"Are you sure that you're going to be able to go through with this?" Brenden asked Harry.

"I'm trying not to think about it too much. If I do, I'll chicken out." Harry took the two shirts Mitch held out to him and started working his way around the room. He arrived at Hermione's table and was once again begged to reveal the surprise, which he staunchly refused to do, telling them only that they were going to love it. Andrea and Maureen bought the shirts, he thanked them and left the table with a sly wink.

"Ladies!" Mitch called out a few minutes later, "Can I have your attention for a minute, then I'll send the guys back out." All eyes turned to face the front of the room. "I know that there have been a lot of complaints about the equipment that we use, and the way it makes the music sound." Nearly every woman in the audience nodded.

"Well, the problem is, we need your help. I hope that we'll have a whole new stereo for the next show, but we can only do it with your help. The system that I'm trying to get sounds much better than this, but I haven't quite got the money for it. Now I think that our speakers will probably croak tonight, and they'll definitely need to be replaced. So here's what I'm asking. If each of you will donate £3 to help with the cost, the dancers willl be giving you a special treat tonight." To Harry's astonishment, the women dove for their bags and wallets to get out money for the sound system.

"Guess they're _really_ tired of the garbled noise," Mitch said, covering the mike with his hand and gestured the guys to collect the offerings, each of them refusing to divulge what was going to happen until it was time as they gathered the money. When it had all been brought up to him, he shouted out that it was time to start the show. Harry swallowed hard, but didn't hesitate in returning to the changing room as soon as the teaser was over.


	42. Harry Goes First

Stripped Bare- Chapter 42

Harry Goes First

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

"When are we going to find out what the surprise is?" Harry was asked this numerous times during the first part of his set. Each time he answered that it would be soon.

"You aren't even going to tell your fiancée what's going to happen?" Maureen asked as Harry straddled her legs before going to remove the rest of his clothes. He grinned and shook his head.

"Just a few more minutes," he promised, and was gone as soon as she'd given him his tip. He moved around the tables back to the front of the room and turned his back to the women in the audience, who began shrieking and whistling shrilly for him to drop his trousers. They hit the floor and he was rewarded with more screams and applause. He continued around the room through the rest of his set, until turning, he saw Mitch beckoning him to come back up by the microphone.

_**This is it**_ he thought to himself with a small gulp. Once he'd reached the front of the room, Mitch addressed the audience.

"All right, ladies! It's time for part of our surprise! How many of you think that it's getting just a little _hot_ in here?" A number of the women raised their hands, wide grins on their faces. "Who wants it to get _hotter_?" More hands went up. "Harry, show them how hot it's about to get." Harry turned away from the audience and pulled the back of his thong up and down, getting cheers in response.

"Now, now, Harry, that's not fair. You're teasing them."

"Nothing wrong with a bit of teasing," Harry answered.

"Ladies, do you want him to keep teasing you, or get on with the surprise?"

A chorus of "_Get on with it!"_ greeted them, and with a grin, Mitch added, "Then on the count of three. One...two...three!" The skimpy piece of deep red fabric that had been the last thing he was wearing slid down Harry's hips as he shimmied his body to make them fall. He heard the collective gasp and turned slowly to get the greatest effect he could.

Given that he was now totally naked, he knew that he was no longer able to move about the room, but that didn't seem to matter to the women. They stared at him, astonishment on some faces, lust on others, but on Hermione's, pride. She smiled broadly at him as he moved to collect his clothing and return to the dressing room when his song ended.

"So what did you think?" he asked after all the guys had finished their routines. Maureen was watching Curtis, who had gone on last after showing up while Harry had been putting the majority of his costume away.

"Oh my God, Harry!" Ginny cried, her hands covering her face as she started giggling. "No _wonder_ you coudn't tell us what it was about. We would have ripped your clothes off to hurry it along!" The others (except Hermione and Maureen) agreed, even Luna to Harry's amazement.

"Hermione Granger, why didn't you tell us that your fiancé had such an eno..."

"Don't say it," Hermione broke in. "I know what you were going to say, and I thought that unless Harry wanted his size broadcast to the whole country, it was to stay between him and me." Harry leaned down and kissed the top of her head as he pulled the only empty chair out and sat down.

"Thank you, Love," he whispered in her ear.

"_He's_ certainly done the broadcasting, though, hasn't he?" Kailah chuckled, nudging Maureen in the side. Maureen jumped and looked around at them guiltily.

"So what did you think, Mo?" Andrea asked her, looking around Ginny when she received no answer. "Mo?" Maureen had resumed following Curtis around the room with her eyes. The rest of the table turned to see what she was looking at.

"Who is he again?" Kailah asked Harry.

"Curtis Moore. He was part of the group when I started, but family problems caused him to leave less than a month later."

"I think Maureen has a crush on him," Ginny laughed. "Not that I blame her, he _is_ gorgeous." They all turned to Maureen, who was blushing furiously at having been discovered.

"I can introduce you, Mo," Harry offered. Her eyes widened and she shook her head immediately. "You sure? He's a really nice guy. Nothing like Tad, or, sorry if this sounds rude or like I have something against him other than what he's done already, your brother, Stephen." He stood and strode over to where Curtis was now talking to Kendall.

"Harry!" Maureen blurted, but it was too late. Curtis turned at the sound of his name and after a few minutes conversation, he nodded and returned to the table with Harry.

"Curits Moore, I'd like you to meet Maureen Whitnahl. Maureen, Curtis." Maureen's pale cheeks turned a brighter shade of red than the others had ever seen before as she shook Curtis's hand. He crouched down beside her and began talking to her in a way that told the conversation might be a lengthy one, so Harry turned and resumed his seat by Hermione.

"It turns out he's been eyeing her all evening, too. He was going to ask her out, but thought that I might have had something going with her since I came over to the table a lot. Then he saw that I was sitting by _you_, and decided to get a drink to help him get up the courage to ask her."

"See? You're not the only one who's shy." She looked over at a smiling Maureen who was giving Curtis her telephone number. "Lots of guys are. You were just a bit more than most." She giggled as Harry nuzzled her neck.

"I'm not so shy anymore, am I?" He planted a kiss on her cheek and stood as Mitch called out for all the dancers to come up front for the raffle.


	43. Early Morning Problem

Stripped Bare- Chapter 43

Early Morning Problem

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

Harry groaned as he was woken up one morning in early July. He'd just gotten to sleep after staying up late to finish a report for Kingsley, then finding that Hermione had Apparated into the flat to see him when he'd gone to the kitchen for a drink of water had had the two of them seeing the first light of dawn outside the window. He rolled over and looked at the clock.

"Someone had better be dead, or at the very least really sick," he grumbled when he saw that it was only six thirty. Hermione burrowed under the covers as her fiancé got up and pulled a pair of boxers on.

"If they're not, I say we curse them," she mumbled sleepily as he headed to answer the still ringing phone.

"Me too," Harry said, flipping on the light in the kitchen and picked up the reciever.

"Hello?" he said, rubbing one eye in an effort to wake himself up.

"Harry? It's Maureen. I'm sorry to call so early in the morning, but is Hermione there?"

"Yeah, but's she's asleep, Mo. What's up?"

"I _really_ need to talk to her. Could you wake her up, please?" Harry was instantly alert at the alarm in her voice.

"Is this about Curtis? Did he do something to hurt you?" Maureen and Curtis had been going together since meeting at the show, and were almost as inseperable as Harry and Hermione.

"No, no, nothing like that. Curtis is great. I just have to talk to Hermione, Harry, please?"

"All right. I'll go get her." He put the phone down and headed back to his room, finding Hermione sprawled on his side of the bed, hugging his pillow to her chest.

"I'm sleepy," she complained when Harry shook her shoulder gently.

"The phone's for you, Love. It's Maureen, and she sounds frantic."

"This is why we need a cordless phone and an answerphone," Hermione groused a few minutes later as she blearily followed Harry into the kitchen and took the phone from him. "Maureen?" She listened to her friend, and sat down with dismay when she heard what was wrong. "He knows he has no chance, right? What do you mean, _no_? He would _have_ to figure from what happened that I wouldn't...For cripes sake, Mo, it's been almost a _year_!" Harry moved about the room, starting the coffe and making breakfast, but mostly wanting to be there if she needed him.

"No, I don't want to see him. He would have a lot of nerve if he asked that...So that's supposed to make it all right! I'm sorry. Maureen, I don't mean to yell at you, I know it isn't your fault." Hermione looked up as Harry waved a hand and held up a cup to ask her if she wanted some coffee when it was finished. She nodded with a yawn. The conversation went on for a few more minutes, and when she hung up the phone, Hermione looked frazzled.

"You all right?" Harry sat her coffee in front of her.

"No, Love, I'm not." She took one sip of the hot liquid and sighed.

"Is Maureen?"

"She's fine. It's not her that's the problem. The problem is Stephen." Harry bristled at the other man's name.

"What about him?" She took another sip of coffee before answering.

"He wants me back."


	44. Harry Has Enough Of Stephen

Stripped Bare- Chapter 44

Harry Has Enough Of Stephen

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

Harry watched as Hermione figeted by the door. The bell had just rang and she was about to answer it, but she seemed extremely nervous.

"You all right?" he asked. She glanced at him and nodded. "Want me to get it?"

"No, if that's Stephen, you might decide to punch him out." The bell rang again, a bit more insistant this time.

"Someone going to answer that?" Ron asked as he and Luna came in from the hallway. Hermione reached out to open the door. Just as she'd thought, her former fiancé stood on the other side. "Oh," Ron muttered softly so that Stephen wouldn't hear, "It's the total arse."

Harry had to look out the window to keep from laughing. He and Ron hadn't made any attempt to like Stephen when Hermione wasn't around, and this comment was probably the nicest thing that Ron could say, since they now knew that Hermione had been getting cheated on for almost her whole relationship.

"May I come in?" Stephen asked.

"Do you have to?" Harry muttered, standing up and moving to the kitchen doorway. Ron and Luna followed him. They knew that they would be able to overhear the conversation and help Hermione if she needed it, but wouldn't have to look at Stephen in the meantime. In fact, Hermione had asked them to stay close, but in the next room so that they wouldn't be tempted to do bodily harm to Stephen, and possibly get sued for it.

"It's not like I can't afford it," Harry'd said when she'd asked them after her phone call with Maureen the day before.

"Harry, I don't want you to have a criminal record. You were lucky that Tad didn't want to press charges against you, but trust me, Stephen _would_." And so, Harry and Ron had reluctantly agreed to stay in the kitchen unless they heard trouble.

"What do you want, Steve?" Hermione asked, gesturing for him to sit down.

"First I want to apologize for what happened."

"O.K.," she said warily.

"And I want to tell you that I've really missed you these last ten months. I've been asking Mo how you're doing, but she doesn't tell me any more than fine."

"I _am_ fine."

"I see that." He looked her over appraisingly. "In fact, you look great."

"Thanks." Hermione sat down and took hold of her elbows, pulling them tight against her body. This was already making her uncomfortable.

"What are you doing for dinner?"

"Tonight? I've got plans with my parents."

"Tomorrow?"

"Kailah, Andrea and I are going shopping and then to dinner and a movie." She failed to mention that the shopping was for her wedding to Harry, she still didn't want Stephen to know that.

"Free any time this week?"

"No, or next week or the week after that, or the one after that. I'm pretty much booked solid until after Christmas." This much was true. The wedding plans were going to keep her busy until the day before the wedding and then she and Harry were going on a long honeymoon. Just where, she hadn't been able to get out of him just yet, but he'd promised she would love it.

"Oh. Well, how about lunch?"

"Same. My entire days for the next five months are set in stone. I can't change my plans. You were lucky to get me at all today." She looked at her watch. "Andrea is going to be here to get me in about half an hour and I'm going to be running until about seven, dinner with my parents, then I have to finish a report for work." Orion soared through the window and landed on the coffee table at that moment. Stephen had never much cared for owls and shrank away from them whenever they were around. This time was no exception.

"What is that _thing_ doing here?" he asked, scooting as far back in his seat as possible. Hermione bristled.

"_He_ belongs to Harry and his name is Orion. Harry?" His raven haired head popped around the kitchen door a second later. He saw his owl and came out to collect him. "Thank you."

"No problem," he answered with a chuckle when he saw how Stephen was acting. The ebony bird fluttered to his master's shoulder and Harry returned to the next room.

"That was unnecessary," Stephen grumbled.

"What was?"

"That owl. You know how I feel about them."

"You sound as if I _planned_ for Orion to come in here like that. He was returning from delivering a letter for Harry, that's all, and we didn't know when he'd be back." She sighed. It seemed that Stephen hadn't changed one bit. He still expected everything to be his way. But she was still going to play hostess, no matter how much she didn't want to. "Can I get you something to drink?" He shook his head.

"Is there any chance of us getting back together, Doll?" Hermione sighed again.

"This is the final time I am going to say this- don't call me _Doll_. And after what I saw on what was supposed to be our wedding day, and with a woman that _you_ had insisted be in my side of the wedding party at the last minute, literally the day before the wedding, how can you even think to ask me that? Stephen Whitnahl, I would rather spend the rest of my life alone than with you!"

"You're joking," he chuckled. "You can't mean that. 'Cause you know that you _will_ be alone for the rest of your life, then."

"_Excuse_ me?" she growled in fury. This was going too far.

"Come on, _Doll_. You really think that any guy is going to want you with that electrocution hair and the dumpy clothes?" Hermione looked down at her shorts and sleeveless blouse, then back up at him. "Get real."

"As a matter of fact, I was asked out by someone less than four days after we broke up." She wasn't going to tell him that it had been by Harry and Ron, or that they'd only been trying to get her out of the depression she'd been in.

"He was probably just taking pity on you and was relieved when you told him no."

"Who says I said no? I _did_ go out with him. We went to dinner and had a very lovely time." That much was true. Harry and Ron had both made every attempt to make her smile that night. "And I've been on quite a few dates since then."

"But I'll bet that none of the guys stayed more than one night, right? Especially when they found out how frigid you are in the bedroom." Stephen laughed at his own joke.

"**THAT'S IT!**" Harry's voice came booming from the kitchen, and the next thing Hermione knew, Stephen was hanging in midair and Harry was in front of him, his wand at Stephen's throat.

"Harry, no! He isn't worth it!" Hermione ran to him and tried to pull him back. But Harry wouldn't be moved.

"Apologize!" he growled at Stephen. "Now!"

"Help me!" Hermione begged the others, who had followed into the living room. Ron merely shook his head and crossed his arms as he leaned against the wall. Luna moved to assist and he held her back with one arm.

"I don't think so. He deserves it, Hermione. He's been insulting you since he got here, and for as long as you've know him. I'm just amazed that Harry managed to hold his temper until now."

"**APOLOGIZE!**"Harry bellowed. Stephen, knowing what the wizard was capable of doing to him, began whimpering, and the room was filled with a sudden scent that was unmistakable. Harry looked down and saw a puddle forming on the carpet.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," Stephen said rapidly. "Please don't hurt me."

"Harry, that's enough. Let him down." Harry backed away and let the other man drop in a heap to the floor.

"I don't _ever_ want to hear you insulting Hermione again, you understand?" Stephen nodded immediately as he got to his feet. "Now get out of here." The door shut a minute later, and Harry, shaking, slumped against the sofa.

"Harry, that was _just_ what I didn't want to happen. What if he decides to press charges?"

"For what?" Ron asked. "Harry didn't punch him, or even touch him. And he didn't threaten him. Just told him to apologize. When you think of what Harry _could_ have done, I think that he did a bloody good job of keeping his cool."

"He could decide to do something against _you_," she told him. "You were just going to let Harry beat him to a pulp."

"I wouldn't have beat him to a pulp," Harry said, standing up. "I just couldn't take it any longer. He's done nothing but hurt you and I love you too much to let him get away with it anymore." He pointed his wand at the spot Stephen had made, cleaning it up with a slight wave.

"Admit it, Hermione. You were going to do the same thing. You know it," Ron said.

"Well..."

"Aha! I was right!"

"No, I wasn't going to do the same thing, but close to it!" she laughed, relief that Stephen was gone now flooding through her. "You all heard him didn't you, calling me dumpy?" They all nodded.

"And there's one thing that I know for sure," Harry whispered, pulling her into his arms. "You are anything _but_ frigid in bed." Hermione giggled as he nipped his way along her pulse point.

"Luna, Love, what are you doing?" She was walking around the room waving her hand back and forth.

"Trying to rid the flat of the Bramstras."

"Do I even want to know?" Harry muttered. Hermione nudged him gently in the ribs. He grunted and whispered in her ear.

"Bramstras?" Ron asked his pregnant girlfriend.

"They feed on negative energy and ruin the mood of everyone around them."

"I thought she was going to become a designer with Madam Malkin," Harry muttered to Ron as Hermione led him to the bedroom.

"She is, but that doesn't stop her from believing in non-exsistant things, does it? I just hope that she doesn't start teaching the baby about them," Ron sighed and crossed the room to hug Luna.


	45. Stuck Waiting For Hermione

Stripped Bare- Chapter 45

Stuck In The Bathroom While Waiting For Hermione

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

Andrea tapped her foot impatiently. Luna was nice enough to talk to, but she prattled on about stuff that didnt even _exsist_. Where was Hermione? She'd said to pick her up at the flat at three and she was nowhere around. It was now going on three forty-five and they had to meet Kailah and Ginny at an appointment for a dress fitting at four thirty.

"Luna, can you help me with this, please?" Ron's plaintive call came from the kitchen where he was attempting to get the makings together for one of Luna's cravings. Apparently, it wasn't going too well.

"Come on, Hermione," she sighed as Luna disappeared through the door. A second later, Andrea's head snapped up. She'd distinctly heard something hit a wall down the hallway. It had happened a few minutes ago, but she'd just dismissed it as her ears playing tricks on her. This time though, it was followed by what sounded like a moan. Curious, she stood and went in search of the source.

She reached Harry's bedroom and stopped, listening intently. For a minute, all she heard were Ron and Luna laughing in the kitchen about what he was cooking for her. Then she heard another moan, longer this time. Maybe Harry was hurt and the others didn't know about it? Andrea moved closer to the door. As her ear pressed against the wood, she was able to make out rapid breathing and whimpers, every once in a while interrupted by whispered words she wasn't able to make out.

She smiled, knowing now where Hermione was. And from the sound of it, she would be a while longer, so Andrea pulled out her mobile as she headed to the bathroom and closed the door.

"Kailah? It's Andrea. I'm still waiting for Hermione."

"You're still at the flat? It takes almost half an hour to get here from there. That's going to be cutting it close don't you think? It's eight till four."

"Yeah, I know. She and Harry are...um...busy with something, so it'll be just a bit longer."

"What is so important that it can't wait until after this fitting? I know it's not the first, but..."

"Kailah, they're _busy_," Andrea cut off her friend softly.

"Yeah, I got that, but like I said, why couldn't it wait until..."

"It couldn't wait, because they're _fucking_, you daft bint."

"Oh! Wait, how do you know?" Kailah didn't even sound surprised at proper Andrea's language. She sighed.

"Because I heard them, that's how."

"But I thought that there was a spell or something to keep you from hearing anything if you weren't wanted to hear it?" Andrea heard Ginny's voice in the background.

"There is, but what's going on?"

"Andy's at the flat to pick up Hermione and she has to wait for her, because Hermione and Harry are shaging in the bedroom."

"How does she know?"

"She heard them. That's why I asked about the spell."

"It's a charm, not a spell."

"What's the difference?"

"What does it matter!" Andrea broke in.

"Well, I was just wondering the difference. You don't have to get your knickers in a knot."

"Kailah, I'm stuck here waiting for Hermione, and she is in the next room getting it on with Harry. After seeing him totally starkers the other night, you can't tell me _that_ wouldn't put a picture you really don't want in your mind, can you?"

"Actually, in the case of Harry..." Kailah giggled.

"Yeah, I know, he's got an amazing body, and I am _so_ jealous of Hermione for getting to have that prime ass each and every night, but come on. I have to be able to face them when they're done!" She heard a door open out in the corridor. "Hang on a second."

She cracked open the bathroom door and spotted Ron and Luna in an extremely heated embrace by Ron's room. Andrea blushed when Luna's hand slipped down the front of Ron's open trousers and they vanished into the room, the door thumping shut behind them. She leaned her forehead against the frame of the door with a sigh as another moan came from Harry's room, followed by a few high pitched whimpers.

"Well?" Kailah asked as Andrea closed the door again.

"It was Ron and Luna heading to his room. I am now the only person in this flat who is not having sex." She turned to the mirror above the sink. "Because Harry and Hermione are _still_ going at it."

"Crikey! They shag like rabbits, don't they?"

"No kidding! Maybe we should postpone the appointment until tomorrow?"

"You think?"

"Yeah. Just have Ginny come and get me so I can leave this shagfest quietly and unseen."

"O.K. She just went to the loo and I'll tell her when she comes back."

"Thanks. I'll be out in the living room." She disconnected the call, closed her phone and slipped it back into her pocket. With a second sigh, she opened the door just as Harry's door opened directly across the corridor. She found herself looking at a stark naked Harry, who didn't appear to be in the least embarrassed. She wished the same could be said for her.

But shock and surprise overrode that when he looked up and down the corridor, darted out and yanked her into his bedroom.


	46. Andrea Helps Out

Stripped Bare- Chapter 46

Andrea Helps Out

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

"Harry, what are you..." Hermione pulled the covers of his bed over her bare breasts as he pulled a stunned Andrea into the room and hurriedly closed the door.

"She was out in the corridor," he answered.

"I just came out of the bathroom," Andrea said, looking anywhere but at the two of them.

"So why did you bring her in _here_?"

"I don't know. I just thought that I couldn't leave her standing there, Ron could come along looking for her and see what we've been up to."

"Ron and Luna are in _his_ room." Harry's eyes turned to her.

"How do you know?"

"I heard them heading that way," she said, leaving out the part of seeing them as well.

"Harry, this is embarrassing. There was no reason to drag Andy in here while we're still naked. She was probably waiting for me in the living room, weren't you?"

"Yeah, for about an hour." Hermione's eyes whipped to Harry's alarm clock.

"Oh my God! It's nearly four thirty! I have a fitting to get to!" She whipped the covers off and jumped out of the bed. "This is terrible! I don't have time to take a shower..."

"We've rescheduled the appointment for tomorrow," Andrea said. Her friend sank back down to the mattress in relief.

"Thank you," she said. Harry crossed the room and joined her, leaning over to whisper in her ear. "Harry, we can't," he admonished playfully, swatting his arm.

"You're the one that gave me that potion. What do you want me to do, then?"

"We can't ask Andy to wait out in the other room until it wears off."

"What potion?" Andrea asked.

"I gave him an All-Alert potion this morning to help him wake up. We didn't get a lot of sleep what with me worrying about Stephen. The book said that one of the possible side effects was enhanced sex drive." She cast a sidelong look at her fiancé. "I think Harry is experiencing that effect."

"You mean it's making him constantly randy."

"Yes. That's exactly what it's doing."

"You didn't answer my question," Harry broke in, one hand moving along the covers he'd just pulled over his lap.

"Can't you take your mind off it some other way?" Andrea asked him, squirming as she realized what it was he was doing.

"Unfortunately, no. He has to either ignore it and risk harm to himself by having an erection that could last for over twenty-four hours, or he could just keep shagging until the effects wear off, which is the faster of the two. But I've been in here with him since two thirty. I'm exhausted and need a shower. And I don't think that I can take any more orgasms today." She flopped back onto the pillows. Harry followed her, planting kisses along her throat and collarbone as his hand kept moving over his rapidly returning erection.

Andrea was unable to tear her eyes from that spot, and surprised that she found herself wanting to be the one doing that for him. She continued staring as Harry moved his hand to Hermione's stomach, then lower, nudging her thighs apart to slip a finger between the swollen folds of her sex.

"Oh God," Hermione whispered, her eyes fluttering shut as he gently rubbed her distended clit. "I _know_ I can't take any more orgasms today. I've had over twenty and he is absolutely _insatiable_!" She batted his hand away. "Harry! Andrea is in the room!"

"Then what am I supposed to do?" Harry asked again, moving back to his side of the bed and resumed stroking the source of the tent in the covers.

"Couldn't he just do _that_?" Andy asked, indicating his hand.

"He could, but he'd never be able to leave the room. It would still take about twenty-four hours, with only a few minutes respite from when he cums. It's longer after he shags, and it takes off more of the potion as more activity is involved. He was going to go into the bathroom to get a drink of water when he brought you in. That's about all he would have had time to do." She sighed as she covered herself with the blanket. Harry's other hand disappeared under the covers as well, and Andrea knew that it was to take hold of himself in attempt to hurry along his orgasm. His lust filled emerald eyes closed briefly when his fingers made contact, then opened again in her direction, and a slow smile played at his lips. He turned to Hermione, whispering in her ear. Her brown eyes scanned Andrea from the waist down, she shook her head and whispered something back to him.

It sounded to Andrea like, "She wouldn't do it."

"Wouldn't do what?" she said. They both looked up at her, Harry with a smile, Hermione with a thoughtful expression.

"Harry was wondering if he can't shag me, what about you?"

"Me?" Andrea squeaked.

"Harry noticed that you seem to be interested in what's going on right now." She pointed towards Andrea's midsection. Her friend looked down and saw that her gray slacks had a growing damp spot on the crotch. Harry got up onto his knees and scooted down to the end of the bed. He held out a hand to her, and without a second thought, she took it.

"Are you sure?" Hermione asked. "There's no telling how much longer he's going to be under the influence of the potion." Andrea nodded with a hard swallow, coming down to the mattress when Harry gently tugged on her hand. Within a few seconds he'd managed to undo the buttons on the front of her blouse and had pulled her bra above her breasts, and now was suckling on her left nipple while his fingers toyed with the right.

"Holy shit," she sighed, letting him lay her down on the bed. His hands pushed her blouse off her shoulders, and slid under her to undo the fastenings of her bra, which joined the pile of clothes already on the floor.

"What do you want me to do ?" he whispered against her skin, moving to her other breast, his green gaze watching her the whole time.

"Well, you might want to put the charm back on the room." Harry froze.

"What do you mean put it _back_ on the room?"

"I'd been able to hear you for about twenty minutes before you came out."

"I told you that you hadn't said the incantation right," Hermione giggled. "I'll bet Ron and Luna got a real earfull."

"I don't know about that, you weren't especially loud."

"Could have fooled me," Harry said, returning to Andrea's breasts. "Hermione was practically screaming in here."

"You weren't all that quiet yourself, Harry," Hermione said, picking up her wand from the bedside table. "Silencio." She tossed it on the floor and moved to take hold of Harry's cock. Andy felt his gasp.

"I thought you couldn't take any more orgasms today?" he sighed.

"I don't really _know_, but it wouldn't hurt to find out, would it?"

"Do you want me to leave then?" Andy asked, hoping that the answer would be no.

"Don't you dare move," came the response. Harry's hands went to the fastenings on her slacks. They came open easily, and were gone, along with her knickers in the next second.

"Your wish is my command."

"Then tell me what you want me to do."

"What you were doing to 'Mione a few minutes ago."

"You mean this?" One long finger penetrated her folds and centered on her slick button. Her back arched with the sensation.

"Yes, that!" she moaned. She was getting hotter and wetter with each passing of his tongue. That, coupled with his fingers were going to make for quite in interesting orgasm. "Faster, please," she whimpered, her hands coming around his shoulders, nails biting gently into his skin. Her head fell to the left and she lay watching her friend slowly jack Harry's long rod. The sight made her even more wet, and she didn't know how that was possible.

"I have an idea," Harry said, pulling away from both women. "Would you have any problem doing something with Hermione as well as me?" Andy shook her head. "All right, then." He moved around so that he was on his back in the middle of the bed. "It's up to you two how you want to do this, but one of you is going to be on my face and the other can have my cock."

Hermione looked at her friend, who just gestured for her to choose, then slid onto her fiancé's member. Andrea recieved some help from Harry in maneuvering around, then was treated to the delight of his hot tongue lapping quickly at her clit. She was in for a surprise when 'Hermione' leaned over to her and fastened her teeth gently on one nipple, then the other.

"Oh God," she whimpered. "I'm going to cum, I'm going to cum, HOLY SHIT! I'm cumming, I'm cumming, I'm cumming!" She rode the waves of pleasure for a few more seconds, and collapsed off to Harry's side.

"I'm not done with you yet, you know," he moaned. Hermione ground her pelvis into his, surrendering to her own orgasm before slipping off Harry and moving to Andrea's side. She pulled her up and brought her back to the center of the bed to straddle Harry's body. Andrea gulped, but didn't show her nervousness when Harry grasped her hips and brought her down onto his erection slowly but steadily. She bit her lip in response to the pressure building in her body, then cried out when he was suddenly all the way inside her. He held her still above him.

"Andrea, why didn't you say something?"

"I thought that if I came before, it wouldn't be so bad," she answered, tears gathering at the corners of her eyes.

"What?" Hermione asked.

"Andrea was a virgin."

"Was is the key word here, Harry. I'm not anymore."

"Why did you decide to give your virginity to _me_?"

"It wasn't a matter of deciding, I've never slept with any guy that I went out with, but I'm sick of not knowing what it feels like!"

"Why didn't you sleep with any of them?"

"Because most of the guys I've gone out with were either total pervs and wanted to go up my bum, or they were to repressed, or in the case of about five of them, gay and trying to hide it." Her muscles surrounding his prick contracted involuntarily and he gripped her hips more tightly.

"Fuck," he groaned from the pleasure of it. "Keep doing that and I'm gone."

"At least for a few minutes anyway," Andrea giggled, now that the pain was receding and only a feeling of being full remained.

"Is it safe for me to move yet?" She nodded and he turned them over, slowly pulled out of her vise-like tunnel and just as slowly pushed back in. When she didn't object due to pain, he sped up his pace a bit. Soon she was digging her nails into his back and keening as she came over and over in the few minutes since he'd taken her virginity.

"I'm not-going-to be able-to take-much more of this," Harry soon panted. Two more thrusts and he was at the edge. Three more and- "FUCK, I'M CUMMING!" Andrea felt him spasm and his cum shot deep inside her hole. He gently pulled out a minute later and Hermione, having retrieved her wand as soon as Harry's orgasm had started, whispered the contraceptive charm over Andy's stomach.

"What was that for?" she was asked.

"So that Harry doesn't make you pregnant." Andrea's blue-green eyes widened at the thought that she could have possibly gotten pregnant just now. "Harry? Do you think that the potion has worn off yet?" She didn't recieve an answer, and looked to see that her fiancé had at last fallen asleep.

"Glad to see that I was so much of a help," Andrea said dryly as she stood up to collect her clothing.

"Don't take personally, Andy. This just means that he's finally able to go to sleep and won't be up until four in the morning." She joined her friend in getting dressed. "And it also means that I won't have to spend the rest of the day in here getting the shit fucked out of me." She looked Andrea over. "Are you O.K.?"

"I'm great. I finally lost my virginity to someone, even though he _is_ taken, and it felt amazing! And, 'Mione, I promise that I'm not going to say anything about this to anyone."

"Thanks. I think the last thing that Harry wants is for Maureen, Kailah, Ginny or the rest of the world to find out that he shagged two women at once. They might make him out to be a sleaze!" Hermione laughed, but at Ginny's name, her face registered horror. "What?"

"Ginny! She was supposed to be coming to get me!" The two of them ran out of the bedroom to find an impatient Ginny tapping her foot much like Andrea herself had done just an hour and a half ago.


	47. Seating Charts, Trouseau and Late

Stripped Bare- Chapter 47

Seating Charts, Trouseau and Late

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

"Ron! Would you stop singing that ridiculous song?" Harry shouted as his redhaired friend walked past his room. Ron had been singing _**I'm Henry the Eighth, I Am**_ for the last two days after having heard it on the radio, and it was driving Harry insane.

"Sorry, Harry. I just have it stuck in my head."

"I can think of a way to get it out for you," Harry muttered.

"Boy, aren't _we_ just a bit grouchy this morning?" Ron snapped, standing in the door with his arms crossed. Harry scrubbed his face with his hands and stood up from his position on the floor.

"Sorry. I don't mean to be short, but I'm exhausted from all these cases Kingsley has me on, they need to be done before the wedding, then there's the _planning_ of the wedding, Hermione wants me to meet with her this afternoon for our engagement pictures," He blew out a long breath. "I haven't seen her in a week," he added wistfully.

"I know, Harry. I'm not able to be with Luna anymore and it's maddening!" Ron came in and looked down at the papers Harry'd been surrounded with. "So what's all this? Maybe I can help."

"This is the seating chart for the reception," Harry sighed. "I'm trying to figure out a way that Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia and Dudley won't be too surrounded with witches and wizards."

"Pretty hard at a witch and wizard's wedding, don't you think? Besides, I thought that they'd gotten over all that rubbish?"

"Better to be safe than sorry," Harry muttered, resuming his seat among the paper piles. Ron joined him and picked up the nearest one.

"You're inviting Cho Chang? Won't that cause some hassle?"

"That's _if_ she accepts the invitation. Hermione was supposed to send them out this morning. She and her mother have been addressing them for the last week, and she said that they would be going out today, come hell or high water."

"Hell or high water?"

"I think it's an American expression." Harry reached out and picked up a pile from the far side of the mess. "Her dad started saying it after he came back from that trip to Texas last month."

"Don't you think you're jumping a bit with sending out the invitations today?"

"No, Hermione's mother said that you're supposed to send them six weeks before the wedding."

"Oh. Is sending them this soon going to free her up for your birthday? It's the day after tomorrow, you know."

"Ron, I remember when my birthday is," his friend chuckled. "But I don't know. She hasn't said anything yet."

"Can I ask why you chose a Muggle photographer? Why not a wizard?"

"It's not just going to be in the Prophet, Ron. Hermione's family is going to be there and a lot of them have never seen a moving photograph. She thought it was best and more formal if we were going to be completely still."

"That's boring."

"Yeah, but it's what Hermione wants and that's what's important to me." He smiled wistfully. "I just miss her when she's not here," he said.

"I know. But it's not going to be for too much longer. So what about Cho? You never said."

"She's not going to create a problem, Ron. She was the one that ran off from Madam Pudifoot's, not me. I know that I completely bungled having a relationship with her then, but so what? She finally got over Cedric and found a new boyfriend. You know, the last I heard, she was pregnant with their _fourth_ kid? And she's only been out of school for about, what? Five years?"

"Something like that."

"That means she's been pregnant almost the entire time since she's left Hogwarts. I sort of feel sorry for her."

"Why?"

"Four kids under age five? That's going to run her ragged." A knock sounded at the front door. "That can't be Hermione, she would just Apparate in." He stood and went to answer it.

"Hi, Harry!" Ginny chirped. He moved aside to let her, Maureen Kailah, Andrea, and Curtis into the flat.

"What? You didn't bring Seamus?"

"Actually, I did. He's running a bit behind because he's bringing the boxes."

"What boxes?"

"The ones for Hermione's trouseau. That's what boxes. Is she here yet?" said Kailah.

"No, but she's supposed to be around two. We're going to the photographer's this afternoon for our engagement pictures." He noticed that Andrea was looking everywhere but at him, but chose not to comment on it, because he thought he knew the reason.

"There he is," Maureen said, jumping up to help Ginny's husband with the tower of packages he was carrying.

"Ginny, Hermione and I aren't going to be gone for _that_ long." He had the suspicion that the many boxes had been shrank by magic so that Seamus could carry them all at once.

"Three months is a long honeymoon, Harry."

"I know, but you have enough here for three _years_!" He laughed. "Do you think she's really going to wear all that?"

"It's a selection for her to choose from, you berk," Kailah said with a grin.

"I just don't want to have to take all of those back out of here," Seamus complained. Ginny kissed him on the cheek sympathetically.

"Poor Seamus, we work him so hard." she cooed. Harry laughed again.

"Wrapped around her finger, are you, Seamus?"

"Like you aren't wrapped around Hermione's?"

"Oh, I know I am," Harry grinned. "I'll do just about anything she asks me to." He glanced back over to where Andrea was sitting. She was staring at the floor. He wondered what was wrong. It didn't seem to be just what she'd done with him and Hermione anymore. Something else was bothering her. He moved over to sit next to her as Ginny started opening the boxes to make sure they'd brought everything.

"Did we remember the white one?" she asked Maureen.

"Hi," Harry whispered to Andrea.

"Hi."

"You alright?" She shook her head.

"What's the matter?"

"Are you sure that the charm Hermione put on me after worked?"

"Yes, why?" She finally looked up at him.

"Because I'm like clockwork. And I'm a week late."


	48. Detection Charm

Stripped Bare- Chapter 48

Detection Charm

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

Harry grabbed Hermione the second she popped into the living room before anyone else noticed she was there. He gestured to Andrea and the three of them headed back to Hermione's now vacant bedroom.

"You did the charm on Andrea, right?"

"Huh?"

"The contraceptive charm."

"Of course I did. As soon as you came as a matter of fact."

"Are you sure?"

"Harry, I'm positive that I did. Why?"

"Because my period is a week late," Andrea answered. Hermione's jaw dropped.

"Oh shit," she whispered.

"Are you sure the charm works?" asked Harry.

"Yes. I used it all the time with Stephen and I'm _still_ using it with you."

"Is it possible that you could just have been lucky all this time?" Andrea questioned.

"No. Flitwick taught it to us in our last year after those two fifth years were caught in Hagrid's hut, remember?" Harry nodded.

"What about the incantation? Any chance that you could have gotten that wrong?"

"I don't think so, but there's only one way to find out."

"What's that?" asked Andrea.

"Priori Incantatum."

"You have your wand?" Harry asked, pulling out his own. She nodded and took it out of her bag.

They touched the tips and Harry muttered, "Prior Incantato." The tips of the wands glowed a bit then Hermione's lit up brightly.

"That's Lumos," Hermione said unhappily.

"Have you used your wand since that afternoon?" She shook her head.

"I needed to see enough to get to the light switch when you'd drawn the curtains. That was after I'd done the charm on myself." She ran a hand over her hair. This meant that she had indeed said the incantation wrong. "Oh God. Andrea, I'm so sorry."

"You do know the detection charm, don't you?"

"Yes! Thank you, Harry! I forgot all about that." She turned her wand on Andrea. "Don't move." She said the words for the charm and waited. After a few seconds, her wand tip glowed blue. She met Andrea's eyes and smiled widely.

"It's negative. The charm came out negative." Harry and Andrea both let out the breaths that they'd been holding.

"Thank God," Andy whispered. Harry nodded in agreement. "I wasn't ready to have _anyone's_ baby, much less _your_ fiancé's!" They laughed and hugged each other.

"You have no idea how relieved _I_ am!" Harry said. "Imagine having to explain it- I'm engaged to Hermione, but _you _are having my baby?"

"I know!" Andrea agreed, her shoulders slumping as she let out a breath in a whoosh.

"I just hope that you aren't regreting anything, Andrea," Harry whispered.

"No, of course I'm not! That was wonderful and incredible, but you have to admit that we just had a bit of a scare, and it would be enough to make anyone a bit jumpy."

"Yeah," Harry agreed.

"But no regrets?" Hermione asked. Andy shook her head.

"Good. I would feel bad if you thought you couldn't be friends with Hermione anymore because of this," Harry said.

"No worries, Harry," she said. He grinned as she crossed the room and gave him a big hug.

"O.K., now that we've got everything settled, I think we'd better get back out there before someone realizes that the three of us are gone!" Hermione said.


	49. Dress Fitting

Stripped Bare- Chapter 49

Dress Fitting

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

"Thank you for not choosing silver and green this time, Hermione," Ginny twirled around, admiring the way the cream colored satin of her dress set off her flame red hair and brown eyes. Andrea, Maureen and Kailah had just come out of the adjacent changing rooms in their own dresses, Andrea in russet, Kailah in gold, and Maureen in deep rose. Hermione had chosen the colors to accentuate each of her friends' features, and she'd not wanted to stick with only having two colors the way she had with Stephen. Harry'd agreed and his attendants were going to be wearing accents in order to match their counterparts.

"Who are Harry's groomsmen?" Kailah asked.

"The only one that I know is Ron. He doesn't have many friends that know about the wedding yet. Our announcement is supposed to be in today's paper, but I don't have any idea who he's asked." She couldn't say that it didn't bother her more than a bit. But she figured that either he hadn't chosen them, or they hadn't told him that they would do it yet.

"I know he's asked Seamus," Ginny said, slipping on the shoes the seamstress had handed her. "And he said yes, so that leaves two guys that we don't know."

"I wonder if one of them is Curtis?" Maureen said thoughtfully. "He's been over at the flat a lot while we're doing all the planning. And since he's back in the group, I know Harry sees him all the time."

"I don't know. I'll ask him at dinner tonight. He's taking me to that new place near Piccadilly Circus."

"That's quite a ways from your flat," Andrea said with a grin. "What's up?"

"He told me that he wants to go somewhere new, and where we're not going to be surrounded by people we know. Nothing against you lot, but he wants to be alone with me for the evening."

"I don't suppose that it has anything to do with us planning his surprise party for tomorrow, does it? He's trying to butter you up to see if you'll spill the details? Like 'are' we going to have a party?"

"He could try, but I'm not telling him one little thing," Hermione said stubbornly. "It's about time that he gets the birthday party he deserves. One that won't be inturrupted by people that he doesn't want to see or hear from, and one that includes _all_ his old friends from school."

While she'd been sending out the invitations to their wedding, she'd also included the announcement about Harry's birthday party that had included a charm she'd connected through an extremely complicated series of spells to the list of their old classmates and friends from Hogwarts. If the person accepted, they tapped their wand against the invitation, and then their name would change color on the list. Everyone that Orion had delivered to so far had accepted, and she was hoping that he would have reached the rest by the time the party started. She lifted her arms as the seamstress took her bust measurements again to make sure that they hadn't changed since the last time, then sat down with a book of flower arrangements that she'd borrowed from her mother that morning.

"I wish that they'd hurry up with your gown, Hermione," Ginny grumbled. "It's been weeks since they got Luna's design, how long do they _need_?"

"They need as long as they need, Gin," said Andrea, looking over Hermione's shoulder at a picture of an elaborately ornate bouquet. "That thing looks ridiculous."

"Doesn't it?" Hermione flipped back a few pages. "This was sort of what I had in mind for you four." She showed them a picture of a simple nosegay with baby's breath and miniature roses surrounded by fern leaves.

"That's nice, but would they match our dresses?"

"Of course. If they don't have them in the colors we need, Ginny and I can always..." She flicked her hand in indication of using magic.

"Harry's not going to see that list, is he?" Kailah blurted out a second later.

"The list for his party? Of course not. I have it with me." She reached down to pick up her bag from under the chair. Pulling out the parchment the guest list was on, she scanned it quickly, noting that five more people had accepted, and turned it to show her friends. Kailah whistled softly.

"That's a lot of people," she said. "There going to be enough room in the flat for all of them?"

"No, that's why we're having the party somewhere else."

"Where?" asked Ginny.

"Not telling. But already got permission for it, and I know that Harry will be thrilled."

"What do you mean you 'got permission' for it? Did you have to rent a hall or something?"

"Sort of. You'll see tomorrow night. But enough about that." She put the list back into her bag. "Do you want to see the bouquet that I want for me?" She flipped to the correct page and held out the book to the others. On the page was an elegant reverse teardrop cascade made of roses and orchids.

"Hermione, that is gorgeous! But do you think it will go with your gown?"

"That's just it," Hermione said, looking over her shoulder in hopes of catching a glimpse of the garment, but the doorway was covered by a heavy white curtain. "Thanks to Luna, I'm not allowed to see what the dress looks like until they've got it all together."

"But that won't be until the day before the wedding!" Ginny exclaimed. "You have to put it on to see if it's going to need altering, don't you?"

"Not with Luna around I won't. She's going to be helping us when we're getting dressed, and she'll adjust it then. At least that's what she said." She shrugged one shoulder. "I don't know. She just has this sly little grin all the time. It's weird for Luna."

"Yeah, I know. Usually if Luna's smiling, it's because her brain is filled with imaginary creatures, not with secrets. She's nice enough, and my brother loves her desperately, but I wish that he could talk some sense into her about all this rubbish she keeps going on about."

"Thank heavens she's a fantastic designer," Andrea said, turning round in front of the mirrors. "At least with her, you know that you won't have to wear some frilly little frou-frou thing like you were with Stephen." Maureen laughed.

"Speaking of Stephen," she said as one of the assistants came out to take more measurements, "He's so afraid of Harry now that he gets jumpy when there's a stick lying on the ground."

"Are you serious?" Hermione asked nervously. "He's not going to do anything to Harry about that is he?" She'd told the others about what Harry'd done in her defense when Stephen had been insulting her the other week.

"Hell no! He's scared of what Harry would do to _him_ if he tried!" Ginny laughed.

"Good. He deserved what he got. Hermione, I know that you loved the git and all, but I have one question. What the bloody hell did you ever see in him?"

"At the start, he was charming and sweet. He treated me like a princess." She smiled wistfully at the memory. "It wasn't until I'd slept with him that he began being a git."

"That's the best you can come up with, he was a _git_?" Maureen snickered. The assistant chuckled softly as she returned to the other room. "See, _she_ knows he deserves worse, and the staff here only met the guy _once_!"

"They've only met Harry once, too, and they've told us that they like _him_."

"When did they tell you that?"

"That day that he was with us while we were waiting for you when you had your meeting."

"Come again?" Hermione said. Kailah sighed.

"Back around mid June, when you had a meeting with the head of your department, Harry came with us because he had an errand to do for Mitch, and he hung around here for a bit before leaving. The staff was impressed by how much he loves you. They said when he left that they've rarely seen a groom-to-be so much in love with his fiancée." Hermione glowed at finding this out.

"They also said that he had a much better body than Stephen," Ginny giggled.

"They did not!" Andrea laughed.

"O.K., they didn't. But they agreed when Kailah said it." They all turned round to face the woman in question. She didn't even flinch at being outed.

"What? He's got a _fabulous_ body, and you all know it." Hermione and Andrea exchanged secret looks, the two of them knowing more about Harry's body than the others (but not much since Mitch had had the guys go totally naked back in June as well).

"All right, enough of this. We have to change back into our street clothes so that the dresses can be done in time for the wedding," Maureen said, reaching behind her to undo the zipper of her own dress.

"That, and we have to start shopping for Harry's birthday party," added Ginny. "You brought the list of what we need, didn't you?" Hermione nodded and pulled it from her bag.

"It's been nearly impossible for me to ask him what he wants without letting it slip that we're having a party."

"Why?"

"Because every time I go to ask him, I also think of something that we need for the party, and almost blurt that out instead."

"What?"

"I've got so much on my mind what with the wedding, work, the party, my parents still wanting me to stay with them even though they know that Harry and I are sleeping together, I can't believe my father knew and didn't say anything about it. You remember that night that we were having the sleepover to hide the fact that I was sneaking off to go see Harry?" The others nodded.

"I found out the next morning that my father knew _exactly_ what was going on, and that I'd been sleeping with Harry for months!"

"Sort of negates the need for you to be at their house, doesn't it?" Andrea asked, scratching her head.

"You would think. That's why I don't understand their reasoning for me not going back to the flat, but they won't let me."

"'Mione, you're not a child, you're an adult. Why do you need their permission to move back to the flat? And for that matter, why did you need their approval about where you stayed until the wedding anyway?" Kailah asked, fastening the belt of her jean shorts as she came back out of the changing room, her dress in the crook of one arm.

"Because I didn't want my father to think I was a slut, that's why," Hermione said. "Remember, I didn't know that the two of them had any idea about what Harry and I were doing. They always told me that they didn't want me to live with my future husband until we were actually married." The others laughed loudly at this. "What?"

"Hermione Granger, that is the silliest thing I have ever heard, " Maureen said. "You had been living with your future husband for three years in that flat."

"And for _seven_ while you were at school," Andrea added.

"Technically eight. They took that one year off," Ginny put in.

"I know, I know. But I don't want my parents to be disappointed in me. You understand, don't you? That thing that everyone has about wanting their parents to be proud of them?"

"Yeah, but there's also a thing we all have that what we do in and with our lives is no longer our parents' business when we turn eighteen," Maureen said, crossing her arms. "So what gives with you still letting your parents tell you what you can and can't do?" Hermione thought for a minute.

"You know, you've all got very good points, and I'm going to bring them up when I talk to my parents tonight." Ginny grinned as she finished tying her shoes.

"Does that mean you're going to be moving back home?"

"It means I'm damn well going to try."


	50. Baking Harry's Birthday Cake

Stripped Bare- Chapter 50

Baking Harry's Birthday Cake

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

"Ron, where's Harry?" Ron looked around from where he stood at the sink and saw Hermione in the doorway.

"He's in his room, taking a nap. Kingsley ran him ragged all day. I'm trying to finish dinner for when he wakes up, but I don't know if I did this right." He moved aside as she came over to see what he was doing.

"Whatever that is, I don't think it's supposed to be blue, Ron."

"It's fish," he muttered. Hermione laughed.

"You'd better start over. I can help you as soon as I put my bag away."

"You're staying the night?"

"Not quite, but I can't tell you what's up yet, because it's a secret."

"Come on, tell me! You know I can keep secrets."

"Like a sieve, Weasley," she laughed as she headed down the hall. She reached her bedroom and looked around it with a gasp. Harry had been cleaning her room for her. She'd been expecting to have to dust everything in sight, and then air it out. Instead, all her books were arranged on their shelves, her bed was neatly made, the sheets changed from the last time she'd been in here back when she'd been packing to leave, her desk cleared of everything but the blotter and lamp, the hangers in the closet all facing the same way.

"Oh, Harry," she whispered. She didn't know how he'd been able to do this when he was working two jobs some days and running around with her and her parents for the wedding. She knew she'd taken most of what would have caused a mess, but she'd bet that if she crossed to her dresser, the few clothes left in there would be folded in one drawer, and the one perfume bottle on top would be perfectly centered, as it looked to be from where she was standing.

She put down her bag and crossed the room to open the window, but found that it had already been done. Looked like he'd been keeping it aired as well. She smiled at the thought that he cared that much for her to keep her room spotless while she was gone. Retrieving her bag, she put her clothes back in the closet and dresser, her other personal items where they went, then returned to the kitchen to help Ron.

"I don't think that I'm going to make fish," he said when she entered the room.

"Why not?"

"Every time I try, it comes out a funny color."

"What do you do to it?"

"Nothing! At least I think nothing." She looked at him. "All I do is season it, I swear, but then something happens to turn it colors."

"Show me what you put on it," Hermione requested, thinking she knew what had happened. Ron took down the seasonings he had put on the fish and showed them to her. She laughed when he held up the last bottle, a little blue spot on the front label.

"Ron, here's a pointer, the bottles with the color marks on them, they're coloring, not seasonings. That's why your fish is blue."

"You mean that the last time I'd put green on it?" Hermione wrinkled her nose, but nodded with a laugh. "They should label these better," he said, looking at the bottle and replacing it on the shelf.

"I'll move them somewhere else for you. They're the only part of the baking stuff that's up there."

"You mean you _do_ put them in food?"

"Sure, but baking, or when the recipe calls for it, but not fish. How else do you think I make pink icing?"

"I thought it looked like that anyway." Hermione laughed again.

"I don't think so. Here, let's get your dinner done." She waved her wand and the fish was cleaned of the coloring, in a pan, and in the oven. "Now, I'll show you what you're supposed to do with the food coloring." She got a recipe book from a drawer and sat at the table with it. Ron joined her and waited while she flipped through the pages.

"We can't put anything in the oven while the fish is there, but we can get started on the batter," she said to him. He looked at her questioningly.

"Why not cook them at the same time?"

"For two reasons, the fish might be on a different temperature than what we're going to bake, and the two of them would cross smells."

"Huh?"

"The fish would infuse its smell into the baking stuff, ruining the taste of it. Ever had fishy cookies?" He shook his head in horror. "You would if you put them in with the fish. Ah! Here we are." She turned the book around to show him a Red Velvet cake.

"We're going to make a cake with Harry's birthday tomorrow?"

"Well, we can make it _for_ Harry's birthday. We'd just have to triple or quadruple the ingredients." She pulled the book back and did some mental calculations. "Do we have all this stuff?" she asked pushing the book back to him and getting up to check. She'd not been living here for almost two months and didn't know how Harry and Ron had been keeping the kitchen stocked. Apparently well enough to eat, but not enough for what she was going to do.

"Ron, if I make you a precise list of what I need, can you go to the store around the corner and get it for me? I promise not to do anything until you get back." He nodded, so she grabbed a pen and paper, then wrote down the missing ingredients, plus the ones she'd be using up in the process of making the cake. He took it when she was done and read it to himself as he walked out the front door.

"I thought Ron knew that Harry and I wouldn't be here tonight," she muttered. She heard movement coming from the hall and a second later, a bed-headed Harry entered the kitchen, yawning.

"Hermione!" he said, grinning when he saw her. "Am I late for a wedding task?" He looked at the clock, then the calendar.

"No, you're fine," she answered, getting up and taking his hand. "Come on, I have something to show you." He followed her down the hall to her room, wondering what was going on. She bounded aside when they had entered the room.

"What am I supposed to see?" he asked, looking around the room in confusion. His eyes roamed over the bed, then the dresser, narrowing as he paused slightly there, then to the bookcase and desk. He shrugged helplessly when he was done. Hermione smiled and told him to look again. He did as she asked, his gaze slowing on the dresser once more, then backtracking when they'd past it. There was more than one bottle there, and other items as well.

"The top of the dresser?" he asked. She told him to go look in the closet. He gave her a curious glance and went to open the door. His jaw dropped as soon as he saw what was inside, and he turned back to face her, looking for confirmation. She nodded with a smile, then he was back beside her, twirling her in the air as she squealed and giggled.

"Harry! Put me down!" she laughed, leaning down to kiss him. He set her on the floor and kissed her on the cheek instead. When her expression turned to confusion, he indicated his mouth. The confusion became more pronounced until he mimed brushing his teeth. "Oh!" she said, understanding now. He gave her cheek another kiss and headed out the door to go to the bathroom. "I need to talk to you when you're done," she called.

"All right," he said. "Aahh! What happened to my hair!" Hermione cracked up as she passed the bathroom and saw him trying to brush his teeth and deal with his out of control hair at the same time. Five minutes later he entered the kitchen, his hair now only in its usual messy state, and when he whirled her around to face him, his kiss tasted strongly of mint toothpaste.

"Now," he said, releasing her. "What did you want to talk to me about?"

"When I got here, Ron was cooking dinner and said that he was hoping it would be done for when you woke up from your nap."

"Ah. I see what you're getting at. I haven't been here enough to let him know that we won't be around for dinner. He still wasn't home when I fell asleep, I haven't seen him since I told you that we were going out tonight."

"Oh. I hope he won't be disappointed when he finds out."

"When who finds out what?" Ron asked from the doorway.

"You finding out that Hermione and I won't be here for dinner. I'm taking her to that new place near Piccadilly Circus." Ron's face fell.

"Does that mean we're not baking the cake?" he asked.

"Of course not. We aren't leaving for a while yet, so we can still bake the cake," said Hermione, crossing to him and taking the bags he was carrying. "Did you get everything on the list?" Ron nodded. "Good, now come over here and I'll show you what you're _supposed_ to do with food coloring."

"What's the cake for?" Harry asked.

"Your birthday."

"You're making it today? My birthday is tomorrow."

"I know, but we won't have time to do it tomorrow, we have a lot of stuff to do before dinner."

"Like what?"

"You'll find out tomorrow, now please stop being so inquisitive and get me the eggs?" Harry shrugged and headed to the fridge. She thanked him when he'd handed her the eggs and cracked eight into an enormous bowl, then added two cups of shortening and six cups sugar, and pushed it to Ron, telling him to cream it all together.

"Cream?"

"It just means you mix it all up until it's gone creamy," Harry offered. "Can I help too?" His fiancée nodded and picked up the bowl, handing it to him.

"Why don't _you_ do this, and I'll show Ron the bit about the food coloring."

Harry set into beating the stuff in the bowl while Hermione instructed Ron to measure out eight teaspoons of cocoa powder and add eight ounces of red coloring, then to mix them into a paste. She started getting the six teaspoons of vinegar, eight teaspoons salt and four cups of buttermilk around, as well as the ten cups flour, then after the first three were mixed, she measured out in a seperate bowl, four teaspoons baking soda.

Harry handed her the bowl he'd been working with, Ron handed over his, and they watched as she mixed the two together, then handing Ron the liquid, and Harry the flour, she told them to alternate adding their items to the big bowl while she folded them and the baking soda all together. When they were finished, she poured the batter into what looked to Harry to be at least fifteen pans, the most of which, she'd transfigured from other dishes. Ron took the fish out of the oven, leaving the door open for Hermione to put her pans in, and to air it out so the cakes wouldn't be infused with the smell of the fish.

"Why are there so many?" Harry asked as he watched her shrink them down and put them in at 350°, setting the timer for thirty minutes. She turned and smiled at him.

"You'll see," was all she said, and began to get the ingredients around for the icing. Just before she and Harry were to leave, she told Ron and Luna, who'd arrived just then, to ice the cakes when they were completely cool and she'd take care of them when she got back. Then with Harry still questioning about the cakes, she silently took his arm and led him from the flat.


	51. Keeping Harry Occupied

Stripped Bare- Chapter 51

Keeping Harry Occupied

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

Harry brushed away whatever it was that was tickling his ear and rolling onto his stomach, burrowed deeper into his pillow. The thing started fluttering around his neck and he swatted at it again. A feminine giggle came from above him. One that didn't sound like Hermione. He turned his head toward the edge of the bed and opened one eye to see who it was. Andrea was standing over him, a black feather from Orion in her hand. She'd been tormenting him with it in attempt to wake him up.

"You should be glad that Hermione sent _me_ in here to wake you up and not one of the others."

"Why?" he croaked, turning over so he could look up at her without getting a crick in his neck.

"Because you're hard as a rock and the covers have scrunched to the other side of the bed." Harry lifted up on one elbow and looked down at his lap. He was indeed erect, and as he was completely naked, the blankets would have been the only thing to hide it, but of course, they _were_ on the other side of the bed. He sighed and flopped back onto the pillow. "You _always_ wake up like that?"

"Most of the time," he said, swinging his legs to the edge and sitting up. "It's part of being male. After we hit puberty, we usually wake up with what the Americans call, _morning wood_." Andrea laughed. "Why didn't Hermione come and wake me?"

"She's finishing your cake."

"Don't you mean _cakes_?" he asked, remembering the many pans his fiancée had used the night before.

"No, it's just cake. She's put them all together to form one big one. But I'm to keep you occupied so you don't go to the kitchen until she's done."

"Then what was the point of waking me up?"

"She didn't want to run the risk of you getting up on your own and seeing what she was doing, so she sent me."

"How are you supposed to keep me occupied?" Harry asked, scratching his head.

"She told me to do what I'd done to help you before, and she gave me a little grin."

"What you'd done to help me before?" Andrea looked over the bed and his current state. "Oh!" Harry said, cottoning on now. He stood up. "You don't have to if you don't want."

"I have no problem doing that again, Harry," she grinned at him. "It's going to take Hermione a while anyway. She just started with the cake. She's trying to put them together and ice them as Ron and Luna didn't do it last night. They told her before they left, that they hadn't gotten around to it before they went to bed, so Hermione said she'd finish before we have to get around for the fitting this afternoon." She stepped closer to him and pulled his hands up to the button at the neck of her blouse. He pulled them away and stepped back from her.

"I just need to do a few things first," he said. "I have to go to the loo, quite badly as a matter of fact, brush my teeth, you definitely would want me to do that, and though I believe you, I'd like Hermione to verify it. I wouldn't feel comfortable not having her tell me personally." Andrea grinned.

"All right, you go do what you have to, and I'll get Hermione." She handed Harry the boxers he'd thrown off the night before and when he'd put them on, she led the way to the corridor. He crossed to the bathroom and she continued to the kitchen, finding Hermione, Ginny and Maureen had made almost no progress on the cake. When they looked up she told them, "He wants you to tell _him_ what you told me." Hermione put down the part of the cake she was holding a minute later when Ginny had finished icing the one next to where it would sit and followed Andrea back to the bedroom where Harry was now sitting on the end of his bed.

"I told Andy to wake you up and keep you occupied so that you didn't come into the kitchen and see your cake before Maureen, Ginny and I finish it. I knew that we were going to be a long time, and that there was only so much the two of you would want to talk about, so I also told her that _occupying_ you included what you did the last time she was in here." Harry nodded and stood up to give his fiancée a kiss. "But make sure that you say the incantation for the contraceptive charm correctly and before you do anything else. We don't want to have to go through _that _again." With a grin, she closed the door and headed back to the kitchen to find that Kailah had arrived, and was now helping fit the cake pieces together.

"Silencio," Harry waved his wand in the direction of the door and turned to Andrea. She was standing nervously in the middle of his room, chewing on her bottom lip. He grinned at her, moved to his desk, opened a drawer and after rifling through it for a second, pulled out a thick book and brought it back to her. He found a page and handed the book over.

"What's this?" she asked, taking it from him.

"It's the contraceptive charm. I want you to be able to read what I'm casting so that you don't have to worry if I said it correctly or not." He leveled his wand at her stomach and muttered the incantation. Andrea felt a bit of a tickle when he was finished, but according to the page, that's what was supposed to happen, so she looked up at him. He was watching her with expectant eyes. She smiled and closed the heavy book. Harry took it back from her and returned it to the drawer.

"You said it right," she whispered when he'd returned to her side again. He held his hand out to her and pulled her flush against his body when she'd taken it.

"One more charm," he murmured, and waved his wand back to the door again.

"What was that?" she asked, hearing a soft click.

"I locked the door." Harry tossed his wand onto his desk and walked Andrea backwards to the bed.

"Ooof!" Andrea grunted as she tripped and the two of them landed on the mattress with a soft thwump.

"You all right?" Harry asked. She nodded with a smile. "Good." He shimmied downwards a bit, undoing her blouse with his teeth, much to her surprise.

"You really are talented, aren't you?" she giggled. He grinned back up at her and continued with the remaining buttons.

"Actually, this is the first chance I've had to try it," he told her when he'd finished and her blouse lay open at her sides.

"Hermione not wear many shirts with buttons, I take it?"

"Nope, she wants to make it easy for me to get her out of her clothes. Like I couldn't just use a charm to make her totally naked in a second." He slid his hands under her hips to undo her skirt and slid it down her legs. "Nice," he remarked when he saw the tops of her silky stockings came only half way up her thighs and were held in place by suspenders. "You dress like this often?"

"Always. My mother was raised to be very proper about everything and brought me up the same way."

"Mind leaving them on?" Andrea giggled at the realization that her stockings seemed to be turning Harry on even more than he already was.

"No," she said. "But don't you think that my suspenders might get in the way?" Harry stripped off his boxers then pulled the crotch of her pale lavender knickers aside to caress Andrea's wet pussy. She gasped when his fingers entered her tight sheath.

"Not in the least," he said with a grin, then laying out beside her and lowering his head to the tight peaks straining against her sheer lacy bra, he licked and nibbled on the flushed skin between them before taking one, then the other into his mouth and drawing them as far in as he could. Andrea moaned and threaded her fingers through his hair.

"That feels so good," she sighed. Harry rolled her away from him in order to reach the clasp of her bra and pulled it from her body. Once her tits were free, she felt a cool breeze from the open window brush the hard tips. She shivered as they tightened even more, and groaned at the delicious ache that came when Harry's fingers pinched one nipple gently.

"Tell me what you want me to do."

"You could go back to what you were doing." Instantly two of his fingers were back inside her slickened tunnel, sliding in and out, making her writhe with desire. She felt him curl one of the fingers against her upper wall, and before she knew what he was doing, the most intense orgasm she'd ever experienced slammed into her. Her body stiffened and she screamed so loud, Harry thought that even with the silencing charm he'd placed on the room, she could still be heard in the kitchen and down on the street. She came back down from the heavens and found herself on her back looking up into his emerald eyes as he slid his member deep into her hungry hole.

"Yes!" she moaned loudly as he began to pump his hips against hers furiously, surging deeper and deeper with every thrust. Andrea's legs went around Harry's hips, locking across his tightly muscled ass. Her nails bit into his shoulders, and he knew that she was drawing blood in at least one spot, but it only served to make him hotter, and he drove into her body only a few more times before he began to feel the familiar stirrings that meant his orgasm was coming close. He didn't want to cum this quickly, so he pulled out and rolled her over on top of him.

"I think you'd better be on top for a bit," he told her when she looked confused. "I'm getting too close and don't want to lose it just yet." Andrea grinned and slid down Harry's legs until she was level with his erection. He bucked and let out a yelp of pleasure when she fastened her mouth around the head of his cock a second later.

"You think you would mind cumming in my mouth?" she asked, pulling back to give him a long lick. He lifted his head to look down at her, blue-green eyes staring back at him while she engulfed his rod with her lips and tongue.

"You sure? That might be the end of it, you know."

"Oh, I don't think so. From what I saw in the kitchen, Hermione is still going to be a while."

"How long is a while?"

"I'd say at least another hour."

"Seriously?" Andrea nodded and resumed sucking him. Within a few minutes, Harry knew he was going to cum soon whether he wanted to or not, given that she showed no sign of letting his cock go until he shot his load.

"Andrea, oh shit, that feels so good, fuck, you're going to make me... oh shit, oh FUCK, I'm going to cum," Harry moaned softly. "I'mgonnacumI'mgonnacum... Uuuuunnnnngggghhhhh!"

His hot salty juice splattered the back of her throat and she had to fight to swallow it all as he seemed to be shooting a rather large amount. His hips jumped uncontrollably, and his back arched while his hands nearly tore the sheets, he was pulling so hard on the fabric. When he'd finally stopped and settled down, Andrea straddled him once more and slid his still hard dick back into her sopping gash. Harry gasped at the sudden movement, his hips spasmed again.

"AH!" she cried out when his cock bumped into her G-spot as his fingers had just a few minutes earlier. She felt him jerk inside her and started to rock back and forth on him.

"I don't know if I'm going to be able to take this," he groaned, his teeth clenched together, and his hands tight on her gyrating hips. Something slid against his thighs, he looked down to see what it was, having forgotten that he'd asked her to leave her stockings on. The sight of her legs still encased in silk caused his erection to resurge instantly, and he began pumping up into her for every downthrust she gave him.

"Think you can handle it now?" Andrea moaned above him. In answer, he flipped them over and showed her exactly how much he could handle. He lifted her legs over his shoulders and started slamming down into her tight hole. Andrea's body was wracked with orgasms, making her unable to do much more than whimper, moan or in some cases, scream out her ecstasy. Her hands gripped Harry's biceps tightly, leaving more scratches that he knew were probably bleeding a bit.

"You willing to try something else?" he panted in between thrusts. She bit her lip and clenched her eyes shut as she came yet again, but managed to nod. He pulled out, lowered her legs to the bed, then rolled her over and brought her up onto her knees, nudging her head down to the mattress. Andrea felt vaguely ridiculous with her bum in the air and her arms flat at her sides, but that didn't stop her from screeching as his tongue started flicking over her swollen pussy and teasing her hypersensitive clit into climax after climax before pulling away and entering her well- fucked tunnel.

He ran his hands over her stocking clad legs while he banged her, whispering that he was going to have to get Hermione to wear something like this for him. Andrea couldn't resist bringing one of her hands to her mouth, biting one of her knuckles, and the other to her inflamed cunt, fingering her clit madly. When Harry realized what she was doing, he brought one hand around to cover the one between her legs. She stopped what she was doing with a low growl.

"Why won't you let me finish?" she asked him desperately. She heard him laugh softly behind her, his hand started hers moving again.

"I wasn't trying to stop you, I just wanted to feel how you get yourself off." Andrea turned her head so she was face down in the mattress, and lifted a bit so her forehead rested on the bed and lowered the hand that had been in her mouth to pull at her nipples while the other, now joined with Harry's resumed its frenzied pace on her bud in time with his plunging prick. Soon both their hands were covered with her juices, and Harry's fingers began to join in to make her cum over and over until she felt him swell inside her body. He roared his completion seconds before she reached hers, and they collapsed in a sweat drenched heap in the middle of his bed.

"Eeep!" Andrea gasped when his fingers brushed her swollen nub as he pulled his hand from under her a second later so he could roll off her and not crush her with his weight. She turned her head to look back at him and was astonished to see he was running the same hand over his cock, which was still like granite. "You're _still_ hard?" she croaked, her throat sore from all the screaming she'd done. He smiled ruefully and nodded.

"I think it's those stockings of yours. They seem to be a major turn-on for me. Bit like that All-Alert potion Hermione gave me." She frowned thoughtfully.

"That means you're going to be horny all day," she looked at his bedside clock. "And it's going on ten thirty. Hermione and the others are probably getting on being done with the cake by now. A knock sounded and Andrea began to search for her clothes frantically. Harry merely got up and went to answer the knock, which sounded again. He peered around the door and stepped back to let his fiancée into the room, closing the door behind her. Hermione noted Harry's erection and looked to the bed where Andrea had collapsed with relief. She saw her friend was wearing her almost ever-present stockings and suspenders.

"I thought that you would be done The cake's finished, Ginny, Kailah and Maureen have gone home to get ready for the fitting. Have you two been talking all this time?" she asked.

"No," Andy moaned, her voice muffled from her having pulled one of Harry's pillows over her face. She held up one leg. "These turn him on!" Hermione turned to Harry, who nodded with a slight blush.

"They're working like that potion you gave me."

"Oh God," Hermione said with a sigh.

"I'm never wearing them over here again!" Andrea announced. Harry and Hermione laughed at this. Hermione glanced at her fiancé's cock and grinned.

"Andy, why don't you get dressed and I'll take you back to your flat, then come back here and help Harry while you shower and change." Her friend got up from the bed and gathered her clothes, pulling them on quickly. Hermione pushed Harry against the wall, slowly stroking him while she waited. He groaned softly as he watched Andrea cover up those damned enticing stockings. Hermione squeezed his shaft gently and his eyes fluttered closed. He sighed with delight, knowing what she was going to do to him when she came back. Five minutes later, Andrea said that she was ready, and the two of them headed out to the front room, Hermione promising Harry that she would return.

"Ginny, Kailah and Maureen took the cake to Hogwarts. The only way I could get permission from the Ministry to take Muggles past the security _at_ Hogwarts was if I promised that the only time that they would be there is during the party and they could only get there by arriving with a witch or wizard. Almost all of the people on the list accepted, so we're going to have to get there a bit early to finish setting up, since they'll start arriving around six. I'll be back to get you in about an hour, and we'll head to the fitting, then the Burrow from there," Hermione whispered quickly as they prepared to leave the flat. Andrea nodded.

"Do me a favor?" Blue-green eyes turned to her. "Please don't wear the stockings tonight. We'll never see Harry if he's off having a wank somewhere." The two friends began giggling and with Hermione's hand tight on Andrea's upper arm, the pair of them disappeared.


	52. Birthday At Hogwarts Part 1

Stripped Bare- Chapter 52

Birthday Party At Hogwarts Part One- Getting Ready

Author's Notes- GhostChicken reminded me about something that I was going to write at the beginning but forgot about. How is it that Harry and Hermione's Muggle friends know about the magical world? Harry obtained special permission from the Ministry of Magic to tell Mitch in case he inadvertantly used magic so that he wouldn't have had to figure out a way to explain it all away, and the other guys found out from Mitch, with Harry right there to ask them all to keep it quiet. Except for Tad- That jackass was fortunately gone before this happened. As for Hermione- The girls found out when she started up with Stephen, and like the guys, they don't say anything because Harry and Hermione are good friends and they don't want anything to happen to them. (Wonder if Stephen is going to keep _his_ mouth shut though. Think him being afraid of Harry is enough?)

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

The few non-magic members of Harry's party guests that had arrived so far stood together in the Great Hall of Hogwarts, looking around in awe. They had never seen a school in Great Britain that looked like _this_. Kailah and Maureen said so to Curtis.

"You should see it on holidays," Ginny said, bustling past them with the remainder of the decorations. She came back after placing her bundle into a box behind a suit of armor in the corridor.

"What about the holidays?" Kailah asked.

Ginny just smirked as she walked back up to the staff table, where Hermione was putting the finishing touches on Harry's cake, eighteen of the many pieces spelling out _**HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARRY**_, and the ninteenth bearing his picture.

"Do you think it's too much?" Hermione asked when she noticed her red-haired friend.

"For as many people as you invited? I'd be worried that it might not be _enough_."

"If the house elves would have let me bring that other table in here like I'd asked, I would have been able to bring the cake back to it's original size, but they all said that it wouldn't be right to put another table up here. It would have been a desecration to them, I guess."

"When do you have to go get Harry? And for that matter, how are you going to get _him_ here? You can't Floo without saying your destination, and he'll see the Leaky Cauldron when you arrive there."

"In about an hour. I'm going to have to Muffliato and blindfold him, but I don't think he'll mind when he sees the trouble we went to for him." She looked around the Great Hall proudly.

"How have you kept this a secret for the last two days? I thought for sure that he was going to get the details out of you when you went to dinner last night."

"It wasn't for lack of trying. He kept asking me about the cake and why we had to make it last night. I told him time and time again that he was just going to have to be patient and wait until tonight. He thought that we were going to the Burrow for dinner, but the cake has him totally lost. He doesn't know what to make of it. He wants to know why it's so big. I said that he would see tonight." She grinned and looked at Ginny. "He even tried to use his body to get me to tell him."

"You're kidding."

"Nope. As soon as we got back to the flat, he dragged me back to his room and had us both naked within a minute, and was _still_ asking questions during the foreplay. They didn't stop until I flat out refused to talk about it anymore and left the room."

"You walked out and left him when he was randy?" Ginny's eyebrows raised. "I don't know if I could do that to Seamus."

"Oh no. It wasn't until after we'd made love. But I just wasn't able to think of any more excuses and was getting too close to telling him, so I just got up from the bed and told him that I wasn't saying anything about it, kissed him goodnight and went to my own room."

"So did he stop asking the questions?"

"Are you kidding? He started up with them again this morning after I took Andy to her flat so she could get changed for the fitting, and all the way up till I gave him something else to do with his mouth when I got back."

"What did you give him to do?" Hermione smiled slyly. "Never mind." Ginny giggled and leaned over to examine the cake. "So this will be a surprise for him, then?"

"A _big_ surprise. He was only able to find out that we were baking him a cake, and he got that because he helped with it. He doesn't even know where the cake has gone to. I had to sneak back to the flat to get the balloons I'd forgotten, and he was in the kitchen scratching his head, muttering, 'Where did she put the cake?'. It was too funny."

"Well, you'd better get going if you want to get him here soon. Almost all the other guests have arrived, and I'm going to go and get the rest of the Muggles. They're going to meet me and Ron in the alleyway outside your building. Hopefully Harry doesn't see them, or he'll know something's up."

"Who's left?" Hermione turned around, searching out the friends that they'd brought with them earlier. Kailah, Maureen and Curtis had sat down at the far end of the leftmost table, where the Hufflepuffs sat during the school year, Andrea leaned against it, talking to them and to Mitch, Tyler, Jason and Brenden, who still stood against the wall. "Hmm. Still missing Shane, Cameron, Kendall and Warren from the Kings of Hearts."

"What about...?"

"That'll depend on if they're there to meet you. You'd better go now. If everyone is there, it'll take you a few more minutes to get them all here, considering that you can't Apperate to the Cauldron from the front of the building, and they'll have to all be here before I bring Harry."

"How long do you think it'll take?"

"I can give you twenty minutes, thirty at the most."

"That's fine. Even if _they_ come, I should have them all here by then." Ginny moved to the fireplace and picked up a small pot with the glittering Floo powder in it from the edge of the table to her right. The Muggles turned to watch what they'd only seen once now with interest. "Diagon Alley!" Ginny called as she threw a small amount of the powder into the fireplace and after setting the pot on the mantle, stepped into the emerald flames and was gone. Hermione wandered over to where her friends sat.

"That is _still_ the strangest thing I have ever seen. Green flames?" Curtis was muttering as she approached. Kailah tried to explain about Flooing, but as she didn't know much about it herself, broke off before she'd really started. Hermione took over, and had just finished making them understand the charmed powder when Ginny reappeared with Kendall and Cameron.

"Shane and Warren are next," she said. "When I come back with them, we both can go back. You to get Harry and I'll be going after..." She rolled her brown eyes.

"They _actually_ came?" Hermione couldn't believe her ears. Ginny nodded.

"They were waiting, just like Warren when I got there, and Shane arrived just after I did."

"Then I should wait until you come back..."

"No, you know that _he_ doesn't trust anything that has to do with..." The redhead sighed. "They said that they come together at the same time, or not at all."

"But there's no way you could fit in the fireplace at the same time, and you have to take them into the Leaky Cauldron in the first place. You have to have ahold of them to get them there, or otherwise they'll..."

"I know, I know. I'm going to have to explain that to them again when I go back. Maybe I can get them to understand that it's going to be impossible to take them all at the same time." She turned and tossed more powder into the fireplace, then was gone again. Hermione turned to greet Kendall and Cameron, who both appeared slightly rattled.

"Harry gets around like that all the time?" Cam asked, clearing his throat and shaking his head as if to clear it. Kendall goggled around at the Great Hall wordlessly, his hazel eyes widening as he took in the size of the chamber.

"No," Hermione laughed. "It's the only way to get here from London without taking the school train, and that won't run until September first. For the most part though, he _does_ Apperate." Kendall's and Cameron's eyes turned to her in question. "What Ginny did to take you to the first place you went to?" They nodded. " But you can't do that here and he only does it when he's in a hurry anyway." She led them over to the others and headed off to meet with some of the school's house elves that were going to be handling the food for the party.

"This is so wierd," Curtis said. "It's totally cool, but _wierd_!" The rest of their group continued to stare around at the other party guests. There was a great number of them wandering around the cavernous room. The eyes of a particularly beautiful girl struck Cameron from the next table. He excused himself and made his way over to her. The others stared after him and laughed when they saw where he was going.

"Trust Cam to find the hottest girl in the room and try and hit on her," chuckled Mitch.

"He won't have a chance with that one," said Hermione said as she joined them. "That's Fleur Weasley, Ginny and Ron's sister-in-law. The guy by the door, the one with the red hair? That's her husband, Bill." They watched, and sure enough, Fleur shook her head and held up her left hand, showing off the gold band that encircled the fourth finger, then gesturing towards the door, she said something to Cameron. He turned in the direction she'd indicated and with a nod, walked back to the rest of the group.

"Always getting turned down, huh, Pastner?" Mitch asked as Cam shook his head, dazed. Hermione patted Cameron's arm sympathetically.

"Don't feel bad. I know this doesn't mean anything to you, but Fleur's part Veela, and that means she has a lot of attraction to most men."

"Harry too?" Kendall asked.

"He became immune quickly as he was in a tournament with her when we were in our fourth year here. It involved contestants from two other schools and we still don't know how unless Harry was entered under the name of a fourth school, but he and another Hogwarts student, Cedric Diggory, were champions along with Fleur and Viktor Krum from Bulgaria."

She went on to give them a brief rundown of the events that ensued and ended in Cedric's death and Harry's battle with a newly restored Voldemort. She was telling them about what had happened three years later when Harry and Voldemort had met in this hall for the final time when Ginny returned with Shane and Warren.

"I say give me about five minutes, then you go for Harry. It's going to take me about two or three of those minutes to get the first two to the Leaky Cauldron."

"How long till I can bring him back here?"

"I'd say about ten minutes, just to be on the safe side."

"O.K., but you'd better hurry. It's getting late and I told him I'd be back at the flat by seven." Ginny nodded and vanished into the fireplace a third time. Hermione checked her watch twenty times over the next five minutes, and sighed with relief when the minute hand finally reached the point where she could allow herself to get up and Floo herself to the Leaky Cauldron.

She called out for everyone's attention, and explained that Ginny was going to be coming back with three more people and then Harry would be arriving, blindfolded, and everyone was to be quiet until he saw his finished birthday cake. When they'd all agreed, she vanished into the emerald fire.


	53. Birthday At Hogwarts Part 2

Stripped Bare- Chapter 53

Birthday Party At Hogwarts Part Two- Harry Arrives

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

Harry felt queasy after having spun around in what he knew to be Floo Fire without being able to see where it was that he was going, but Hermione had insisted that he be blindfolded so that he be completely surprised about what was going to happen. The only thing he knew at this point was that it had to be somewhere in the wizarding world. His fiancée gripped his arm when they exited the fireplace.

He was turned to the right and led through a long room or corridor, then to his left a bit and up two stairs. Hermione moved him into position gently and stepped behind him to uncover his eyes. Harry blinked at the sudden brightness of the light, then looked down. The cake Hermione had been working on that morning sat on a table in front of him, massive in its dimensions, and wishing him a happy birthday. Where she'd gotten the picture that grinned up at him, he had no idea and was about to ask when a shout made him jump nearly clean out of his skin.

"Happy Birthday, Harry!" He spun on the spot and his jaw dropped. He was in the Hogwarts Great Hall, and everyone he'd been put into first year with, save the Slytherins, some schoolmates from the years ahead of him, and to his surprise, his Muggle friends from the Kings of Hearts. When his eyes were nearing the end of their sweep of his surroundings, he nearly passed out. His Aunt, Uncle and cousin were seated a bit away from the rest of the crowd, but they were there all the same. He turned to Hermione.

"How?" he asked.

"With a lot of planning and secrets," she answered, a grin on her face as she took his hand and led him to the Gryffindor table. "Now come open your presents." The crowd of people gathered around him, piling their presents on the table as he sat down. There were so many that the tower soon blocked him from view, and he had to stand back up to be seen over the ones on top, making the others laugh. Vernon and Petunia had Dudley put their rather small gift on the pile as they didn't seem to want to be included in all the _abnormality_. Harry wondered if they were only there because Dudley had asked them to come with him. This seemed likely when Harry looked at his cousin, who smiled briefly, then at his aunt and uncle, who didn't even acknowledge him.

"How did you get them to come?" he whispered to Hermione, jerking his head slightly in the direction of his now retreating cousin.

"I remembered you telling me about what Dudley had said about you when you were all leaving Privet Drive and thought that maybe he would want to come. I decided to invite your aunt and uncle as well, but didn't think they'd be interested. Dudley must have talked them into it."

"I guess that means they still do anything he wants them to. Wonder if he's still living at home, or has he gotten away from them like I did?"

"Do you still resent them for what they did to you?" Her fiancé looked at her for a second then shook his head.

"No. I realized that it didn't do me any good to think about why they hated me, and after seeing the memory Snape had been carrying around with him all those years, I finally knew that more than likely Aunt Petunia was jealous of my mum." He smiled and turned to the massive pile of packages on the table in front of him, and all the people waiting for him to open them. Picking one up and reading the card to see who it was from, he saw that it was addressed to him and Hermione. When he looked to Parvati Patil, she grinned and told him congratulations on his engagement. He thanked her and looked at the rest of the present tower.

"How many of them are for both of us?" Hermione asked, giggling.

"I'd say at least half. That would explain why there look to be twice as many presents as there are people here." He handed the gift to her. "Why don't you open this one?" She began tearing off the paper and gasped when she saw what had been inside. It was a photo album with a picture of her and Harry on the outside. They were in their Hogwarts uniforms and laughing at something that was out of the picture.

"Parvati, where did this picture come from?" she asked. "I don't remember it being taken."

"Dennis Creevy took after his brother. When you, Harry and Ron were on your way to see Hagrid one day after classes, you know, when you came back for your seventh year? He got in that shot of you and Harry while Ron was getting hit around the head by Ginny when he'd been teasing her about her relationship with Seamus." Harry remembered the little crowd that had surrounded them that day. He chuckled to himself now. "The two of you looked so happy, and I thought you should have all the shots that Dennis and Colin took of you."

"That's so sweet!" Hermione sniffled as she looked through the album. There were pictures of her, Harry and Ron walking to classes, Harry studying in the library, Harry talking to one of their housemates, her staring at Harry proudly while he held up the Quidditch cup at the end of the season. She found that most of the pictures of her and Harry were of her staring at him, in fact. She blushed, hoping that Harry wouldn't realize that, it made it look like she'd been obsessed with him then.

She glanced at him and saw that he'd been separating the presents into birthday and engagement piles. He was holding what seemed to be the largest parcel and reading who it was from at the moment, then sat down in astonishment and began to open it. She took the paper from him and read the tag. It was to them from his aunt and uncle! She'd thought that they'd only given him the small present for his birthday.

Harry pulled the lid off the top of the box in the gift and moved aside the tissue paper. He gasped and pulled out an elegantly stitched quilt that appeared to be hand made. He stood and Hermione took one end as she got up as well and the two of them opened up the blanket to view it better. Harry turned and was surprised to see Petunia smiling faintly at him. He handed the quilt to Hermione and hurried over to where the Dursleys were sitting.

"Why?" he whispered when they looked up at him. "Why after all this time and all that happened between us...?"

"Because even though we treated you the way we did for all those years, and even though you obviously hated us for it, you didn't leave us to die when you left Privet Drive for good. You could have, but you didn't. It may have just been because of Lily..." Harry shook his head, inturrupting his aunt.

"No, it was because even though you treated me the way you did and I obviously hated you for it," she chuckled as he repeated her words back at her. "You were innocent. You had nothing to do with Voldemort wanting to kill me. Neither did my parents," he added when Vernon looked as if he were going to comment. "The only thing that they knew was that a prophecy had been made about a child that was going to be born at the end of July to someone that had defied him three times. My parents didn't know if the prophecy was about me, or Neville Longbottom. They just wanted to keep me safe, so they went into hiding. The reason they're dead is because the person they trusted as their secret keeper was a spy for Voldemort. He betrayed them and they paid the price. But as you know, that's how you ended up with me. None of us had anything to do with Voldemort's lunacy, he was just evil through and through." He leaned down to hug his aunt. She flinched the tiniest bit when Harry's arms wrapped around her shoulders.

"Thank you," he whispered. "Thank you for keeping me safe and for the quilt." He smiled at the Dursleys and returned to the presents to find that Hermione had opened three more large packages and was giggling furiously at what was in a smaller one that now sat in her lap.

"Harry, you have to see this, you're going to love it." He sat down next to her and looked to see what was in the box.

"Oh my God," he muttered as she pulled the tissue paper aside. Underneath lay a suspender belt and black silk stockings, along with a pair of crotchless knickers. Harry felt himself instantly getting hard. Hermione noticed that he was shifting his position and grinned over at Andrea, who was responsible for the present, giving her a thumbs up. Her fiancé groaned under his breath next to her.

"I take it we're going to have to open the rest of the gifts rather quickly?"

"Unless you don't think anyone would mind if we disappeared up to Gryffindor tower for a few hours." He looked back down at the box on Hermione's lap. "Or a few days." Hermione merely chuckled and reached for the next present.


	54. Tuxedo Fitting

Stripped Bare- Chapter 54

Tuxedo Fitting

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

Harry allowed the tuxedo jacket to be slid over his arms and straightened it when it had been settled onto his shoulders. He stared at his reflection, wondering how he was going to be able to stand wearing this thing for an entire day. He'd been wearing it off and on for a half hour and it was making him feel claustrophobic, but he was pretty sure it was just the bow tie that was around his neck at the moment. The tailor had spent fifteen minutes making sure that it was tied perfectly.

_**What's the point of that today?**_ Harry thought to himself. _**The wedding isn't for another month.**_ This was the final fitting for him and his groomsmen, and he turned to find Ron, Seamus, Cameron and Curtis coming from behind the curtains where'd they'd all been changing into their own tuxedos. Harry grinned as he noticed that Ron was wearing accessories in a color that clashed horribly with his hair.

"Um, Ron? Why don't you trade with Curtis? It would make more sense as he's going to be walking with Maureen, and you don't look that great in pink anyway."

"Hey, now, get it right, or Hermione will have your head. It's _rose_, not pink," Curtis said with a laugh as he slipped off his jacket to remove his tie and cummerbund. Five minutes later, Harry inspected them again.

"That's better." Ron was now in gold, Seamus in cream, Cameron in russet, and Curtis in, as he had so adamantly put it, rose. The only thing that matched on any of them was their tuxedoes. It had been Luna's idea, she had wanted them to match the bride and her attendants as much as possible, and that to her, meant no black or gray in the wedding party whatsoever. That left them with the white that they were currently clad in.

"What is it with your girlfriend and white, Ron?" Cameron asked, tugging at his sleeves.

"She thinks that black is bad luck for a wedding," Ron answered. He grinned as he had the thought that these two Muggle friends of Harry's had gotten the idea that Luna was a bit unorthodox about a lot of things, but they also agreed that that was part of her charm. And having spent the last two weeks with them going to fittings and other wedding preperations, he found that he rather liked Cameron and Curtis.

"So where are you going on your honeymoon, Harry?" Curtis asked.

"Not telling, it's a surprise for Hermione, and I don't want to risk her finding out until we are there."

"Ah!" Seamus exclaimed.

"What?" Harry asked him.

"That would explain all the boxes that I had to carry the other week. If she didn't know where she was going for your honeymoon, Hermione wouldn't have any idea what to pack. When Ginny brought all those boxes and said that there was a selection, she _meant_ it!" They laughed at the expession on his face.

"So you never told us how your pictures turned out that day, Harry," Curtis said.

"Actually, we just got the call that they were ready and I'm going to pick them up when we're done here."

"Is that going to be soon?" Ron asked, looking like he wanted to rip the bowtie from around his neck at any second.

"How fast do you think you can get changed?" Harry asked him, laughing as Ron dived for the changing rooms. The tailor took the hangers from the group as soon as they were back in their street clothes, pinning the final measurements to each article as they were handed over. Ron sighed in relief as the five of them headed out the door after confirming the pick up for the tuxedoes the day before the wedding.

"If you can't stand being in that thing for thirty minutes, how are you going to stand it for an entire day?" Cameron laughed as they made their way to the photographers.

"I told him that he only has to wear it for the wedding and the pictures afterward. As soon as we get to the reception, he can take off the tie," Harry chuckled. "The only thing that I'm going to say about it is that you had better not be fidgeting in the video. Hermione wants everything to be perfect, and since she didn't get her way on anything when she was supposed to be marrying Stephen, she is getting it with _everything_ now." He stopped and put his hands on his hips as his friends turned to look at him. "And if _I_ have to be strangled by that bowtie for an hour or two, so do all of you!"

"All right, all right," Ron conceeded. "I'll wear it, but I won't like it."

"You don't have to like it, because I sure as hell won't, either. I would be happy getting married in a field wearing nothing but a smile, but like I said, Hermione wants all of this..." Harry shrugged helplessly.

"You really _are_ wrapped around her finger," Ron said, shaking his head.

"Speaking of which," Seamus said as they walked into the photo shop, "I heard Luna talking to Ginny the other day and heard that you hadn't set the date for _your_ wedding, Ron? I figured that she would have you at the alter before Harry and Hermione." Ron admitted that he and Luna hadn't set a date yet. "She's due around December, isn't she?"

"Yeah, but she's in no hurry for us to get married. Don't get me wrong, we _are_, she just doesn't think that we have to rush it because she's pregnant." They waited while Harry talked to the photographer. He came back a minute later, his hands empty.

"So?" asked Curtis.

"Hermione picked them up while we were at the fitting," Harry said, laughing to himself. "She left me a message that the picture was due at the newspaper by three if we wanted to make it in tomorrow's edition." The others shook their heads and followed him back out of the store.


	55. Kailah's Idea

Stripped Bare- Chapter 55

Kailah's Idea

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

It was two weeks until the wedding and the whole flat was swarming with people. Hermione and Ginny were in the kitchen finishing lunch for the large gathering, Harry was going through the RSVP's with Ron and Curtis, the two remaining groomsmen were adding the little cards that Harry handed them to the seating chart that Hermione's mother was working on, Mrs. Weasley was finishing up the flower arrangements that had come apart the night before, and Kailah, Andrea and Maureen were in a far corner of the room whispering amongst themselves. The three of them kept stealing glances across the room to Harry.

"You definitely couldn't use your real name," Maureen was saying uncertainly.

"I didn't intend to, Ducks," Kailah replied.

"You think we could pull it off?" Andrea asked.

"Of course! We just tell them what it's for and I'm sure there won't be any problem."

"But it's for tonight or tomorrow, don't you think that's cutting it really close?"

"Andy, love, you worry too much. Just leave everything to me." Kailah pulled her mobile phone from her pocket and snuck out the door, dialing as she went. Maureen and Andrea stared after her. She returned five minutes later, just as Hermione and Ginny came out of the kitchen with sandwiches and drinks for everyone.

"Well?" Maureen asked. Kailah gave her a thumbs up.

"Told you. It's all set. Just have to get the group around for it."

"For what?" Harry asked, taking a ham sandwich from the tray Hermione had placed on the coffee table.

"Oh, nothing. Just made a date for dinner a week after the wedding," Kailah lied smoothly. Harry nodded and ate his sandwich. The finished their lunch and cleaned up, just as the phone rang. Hermione went to the kitchen to answer it.

"Harry, it's for you, it's Mitch." Kailah looked at Andrea and Maureen smugly. Harry got up to answer his call. She took her friends' glasses and followed him into the kitchen to hear his half of the conversation.

"Hey, Mitch, what's up?" she heard him ask as she pushed the swinging door into the room. She put the glasses on the counter and started to run water in the sink to wash them and the plates that Hermione had already brought in. "Really?" Harry said as she added the dish soap to the water. "What time? Tomorrow night at seven? Where? All right, that shouldn't be a problem. Who else? You're kidding. They just wanted me?" Kailah smirked as she placed the last plate in the drainboard and let the water run down the drain. She dried her hands on a dishtowel and started wiping the dishes to put them in the cupboards.

"This is too much," she whispered to herself, "Wait until Harry and Hermione find out that he's going to be showing up for _her_ hen party!" Harry finished his telephone call, and hung up the reciever, standing with his hand on it as he read the information he'd written down. Kailah chanced a quick look over her shoulder at him.

"You all right, Harry?" she asked innocently. He jumped as if he hadn't realized she was there until that moment.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Why the face, then?" she quiped, turning back to the glass she was drying.

"That call was from Mitch," he answered.

"O.K., what did he want?"

"To tell me that I'd been requested to dance at a hen party tomorrow night."

"Hey, that's great!" she exclaimed, hoping that she didn't give it away that she knew _exactly_ what had been discussed. She cleared her throat. "So, are you going to do it?"

"Yeah, they're paying me two thousand pounds for a three hour deal." But he sounded uncertain.

"Wow, that's a lot of money," Kailah said. She didn't have a problem paying it, though, since it was going to be benefiting both Harry and Hermione tomorrow night. She knew that they'd been so busy that neither of them had had time for the other for the last week and a half. Harry nodded.

"Yeah, it will come in handy while Hermione and I are gone." Kailah smiled at the warm and fuzzy feeling that she got from helping out her friends yet again. But, hang on...

"I thought you didn't have to worry about money?" she asked.

"That's in the wizarding world. I have the money from my Gringotts vault, but I've had to take a bit of it out so Ron will still be able to cover my third of the expenses around here while I'm gone. Hermione's done the same. And since neither of us is going to be working for three months, and we only have about _one_ month of paid holiday leave, it would be cutting into money I don't really have until my pay starts up again at the Ministry of Magic when we get back. That's why I've been taking on so many shows with Mitch."

"So that you won't _have_ to get into your vault?" Kailah asked, and Harry nodded.

"Well! We'd better get back out there and help get the preperations finished," he said. "Or Mrs. Weasley is going to have our heads!"


	56. Not Knowing If He'll Go Through With It

Stripped Bare- Chapter 56

Not Knowing If He'll Go Through With It

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

Harry took a deep breath and held it as he confirmed the address of the building in front of him was the same as what he'd written. He let it out slowly, steeling himself for the evening to come. He fervently wished that he could have stayed home for a quiet night with Hermione, but she'd made plans to go out with some of her friends as soon as he'd told her about the show, and wouldn't be back until late, according to Maureen, anyway.

"What have I gotten into now?" he asked himself as he pressed the button for flat nine, like he'd been instructed. The buzzer sounded a minute later and Harry pulled open the door.

Inside, the ground floor of the building was opulent, marble floors, gold gilt framed mirror to his left reflecting the plush black velvet loveseat from across the corridor to his right. A staircase stood in front of him, carpeted in deep piled burgandy, but his instructions were to go around the stairs to the lift at the back of the building as that was the only way he would be able to reach the top floor where he was to be dancing.

He made his way to the back and spotted the lift as soon as he'd come round the corner. He pressed the up button and waited. When the doors opened, Harry was struck again by the extravagance of this building as his refletcion stared back at him from the rear wall of the lift. He chuckled to himself and went inside, pushing the button for the top floor. He heard a faint bell coming from somewhere above him and a second later, the doors slid shut.

"Bloody hell!" he said when they opened again a minute later. Stepping out, he looked around at his surroundings, and jumped when he heard voices coming from beyond an open door not far to his right. He realized that the lift must let out inside the flat, and he stood rooted to the spot, wondering what he should do now. Fortunately this problem was solved for him a minute later when someone came out to the hall. "Kailah?" he exclaimed with relief. At least he'd know _one_ of the women at this party... or was it more?

"Hiya, Harry!" she said softly, after shushing him with a finger to her lips. "Not so loud, or they'll hear you and spoil the surprise." She moved forward and took the bag he had over his shoulder. "Don't worry, these girls aren't going to bite you... unless you want them to." Kailah giggled to herself and led Harry to a doorway on the other side of the hall, away from the sudden burst of laughter that came from where the others were. "I'm sure that you don't want to dance in what you're wearing, so you can change in here." Harry glanced down at his jeans and rugby shirt.

"Thanks," he muttered, wondering who else he was going to know at this party. Surely it wasn't for Hermione? He thought he'd better check as Kailah started to head back to the other guests. "Kailah?" She looked back over her shoulder. "Could you not tell Hermione about this? I mean, I didn't tell her about it being a hen party I was dancing at tonight, and I don't want her to be angry with me." She smiled and disappeared through the open door. Well, that little experiment didn't give him any indication of who the party was for. Harry sighed and went into the room where he was to change.

"Whoa!" he breathed when he flipped the light switch and saw where he was. It was obviously a loo, but was by no means out of place in this flat with the decor. The toilet and sink were a flat black color, contrasting with the shining gold fixtures, the floor was a slate colored tile, in the center of which was an oriental rug in shades of gold, silver, and black. The light fixtures were gold with frosted white globes, and Harry turned when he caught a glimpse of a reflection of the light as he passed a wall that dropped back when he moved into the room. His jaw dropped slightly when he saw the shower, obviously big enough for two or three people, behind a frosted glass door inlaid with a large design of something that he couldn't make out.

Harry swallowed the lump forming in his throat at the thought of being in such a posh flat. He, Ron and Hermione were by no means destitute, and their flat was certainly upscale, but this? He felt completely out of his league here. He turned back to the door and picked up his bag from where Kailah had dropped it with every intention of getting the hell out of there. But when he couldn't think of an excuse that wouldn't sound as if he were ashamed of being there, or that he was an exotic dancer, he carried it over to the counter surrounding the sink and running the length of the back wall, put it down and started changing without another thought about leaving before he did what he'd been requested to do.

"Kailah? What are you doing?" Hermione asked her friend, who was hovering by the sitting room door.

"Nothing, just waiting for the pizzas to arrive."

"Yeah," said Ginny, standing up from where she was sitting with the Patil twins, Katie Bell, Cho Chang and Alicia Spinnet to go over to join Kailah. "Those kids playing with the lift earlier only got me hungrier. We all thought the food had arrived early!" She leaned in to whisper in Kailah's ear. "Is he ready?" Ginny had been told what was happening before Hermione and the others had gotten there that evening.

"Nope," Kailah shook her head. She was actually watching the hall for Harry to come out of the flat's extra bathroom, but he hadn't made an appearence yet. Ginny frowned.

"He'd better hurry up, we can't hold on to the pretense that we ordered pizza for much longer." The women gathered in the room had been invited to what they were to reffering to as a _bridal shower_ for Hermione, but all of them knew it was her hen party, and also since Hermione had been the last to arrive, they had also been let in on the plan that there was going to be a dancer there for the night. But the only ones who knew the dancer's identity at the moment were the ones who were on pins and needles. Andrea and Maureen looked around the room at the gathering wondering how many of them would run to their closest friends and gossip about Harry Potter being a stripper. They beckoned Ginny over to them and told her what they were thinking. She agreed, and thanks to the fact that Ginny had forgotten something she was to bring with her, the three of them thought up a plan to remove Hermione from the room for a few minutes.

"Oh, hell!" Ginny said out loud when they'd finished their discussion. Hermione looked up from her list of wedding invitations that had been responded to.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"I forgot your present, and I can't go home to get it! Seamus told me that he had a surprise for me tonight and I wasn't allowed to see it until it was finished." This, of course was a lie. Seamus was out of town for a few days with Oliver Wood marketing the Hurricane, but Hermione didn't know that. She clasped her hands in front of her. "Could you get it, Hermione? Please?"

"Me go retrieve my own present? That makes no sense, Ginny." She returned to her list.

"Oh, Please?" It's sitting on my bedside table, and I don't want to be the only one who doesn't have a present for you to open. Pleeeeeaaasssse? You can open it there, if you want." Hermione sighed and folded up the paper, tossing it on the table and stood.

"All right, fine. I'll go get it, but it had better be a really good present." She Disapperated from the room and Ginny sighed with relief.

"O.K. she's gone, now we have something to tell you all and we don't have much time to do it, so everyone pay attention, because this is _really _important."

Harry sighed as he looked at himself in the mirror. It had taken him twenty minutes to change, but now he was as ready as he was going to be. He thought about Hermione and their upcoming wedding and honeymoon. That was enough for him to spin on his heels, leave the bathroom and turn towards the door he'd seen Kailah go into. He took two steps before she saw him.

She came hurrying towards him, and pulled him with her back the way she'd come, slowing as she reached the door. She looked around it, signaling to someone. A minute later she informed him to stay where he was, took the disc he held out to her and hurried through the door to the stereo on the other side of the room. She leaned over Hermione's shoulder as she was returning to Harry.

"We have a surprise for you," she whispered slyly. She ran back to the doorway and lowered the lights. Hermione followed her path from where she was sitting, wondering what was going on. Ginny pulled out her wand as a song that Hermione had never heard before came over the speakers, conjuring some dancing red, green and yellow lights. Everyone else in the room suddenly sat up straighter, as if they knew what was about to happen. Kailah held out her hand to someone in the corridor and pulled in...

"Oh, my GOD!" Hermione squeaked and blushed as Harry followed her friend into the room- in a new dance costume. He was clad completely in dark green leather, zippers placed strategically over his body.

Harry stopped short when he saw her sitting in the middle of the room, a slow grin spreading across his face as he now realized this _was _for his fiancée. His eyes flitted around her, and the grin faded. He knew _every one_ of these women! He saw Parvati and Padma Patil, Katie Bell, Cho Chang (His stomach dropped on that one), Alicia Spinnet, Angelina Johnson, Fleur Weasley, Mrs. Weasley, Professor McGonagall (_**Oh, shit!**_ thought Harry), Hermione's mother, Penelope Clearwater, Hannah Abbott, and Susan Bones, along with Hermione's bridal party.

"Kailah," he stepped back and hissed in her ear. "Did you have anything to do with this?"

"Of course, Ducks, this is my flat."

"Oh bloody fuck!" he spat, turning away from the assembled group. "I _knew _it! I can't do this, I can't take off my clothes in front of all these women."

"You do it during the shows with the Kings of Hearts," Kailah pointed out.

"That's different!"

"How?"

"I don't know _everyone_ in the audience during those shows!"

"So pretend like you _don't_ know anyone here." Harry groaned as he dragged a hand down his face.

"It's not that simple, I went to school with most of these women for at least five years. One of them was my Transfiguration professor!"

"Yeah, Hermione and Ginny introduced all of them to me, Andrea and Maureen before you got here." A smirk spread over Kailah's face. "Tell you what, Harry." She took him by the arm and pulled him back out into the corridor. "Another thousand pounds."

"What?"

"Another thousand pounds if you do this." She looked him up and down. "Two if you go all the way."

"All the way!" Harry choked.

"Three thousand." His raven-haired head whipped around in her direction.

"Would you listen to yourself? You sound like you're trying to buy me at an auction." He turned and headed back to the bathroom. Her next offer stopped him in his tracks.

"Ten thousand." He slowly looked back over his shoulder, wincing when he saw that Ginny and Maureen were now coming up behind her.

"What's up?" Maureen asked.

"Nothing, just having a little discussion with Harry about whether he's going to dance or not." She raised her eyebrows at him. Ginny and Maureen looked at Harry. He took a deep breath, held it for a second, and strode back to the three women.

"I'll do it," he told Kailah.

"You mean...?" She gestured to his lower body.

"Yes." Her eyes lit up and she shooed Ginny and Maureen back to the sitting room with the promise that they'd be there in a minute. "One condition."

"What?"

"First I want half," he said, thinking that this would be the end of it. He didn't believe for one second that she had as much money as she was offering. Kailah merely smiled and reached into her front pocket. Harry's jaw dropped when he saw the wad of money she pulled out. She pulled off the notes he'd asked for and held them out to him.

"Kailah, what is this?" he asked.

"You asked for half now, that's what I'm giving you."

"You always carry around five thousand pounds in your pocket?"

"Fifteen thousand actually, and no, that's just for tonight. I have to pay for the liquor, food and clean up at the end of the night. That's not going to be cheap, and as I don't have a lockbox here, I figured the safest place for me to keep the money would be _on_ me, so..." She offered the five thousand to him again. This time he took it.

"Your parties always run up that much?" he asked, staring at her in disbelief.

"Not usually, but there are a lot of women here tonight and they're going to be doing a _lot_ of drinking." She went back to the doorway. "Just let me know when you're ready. Harry looked at the money in his hand and turned back to the bathroom. Kailah watched him, nervous that he'd changed his mind again and was running with her money, but he came back after only a minute.

"Didn't want to be holding onto that during my dance," he explained when he reached her. "Wouldn't have a place to put it after a bit."


	57. Harry Potter: The One Man Show

Stripped Bare- Chapter 57

Harry Potter- The One Man Show

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

Hermione watched as her fiancé came back through the door. The other women around her sat up straighter, they had all sort of deflated when Harry'd turned and led Kailah out into the corridor a few minutes ago. What was going on? She knew that Harry was there to dance, but who had asked him here, and why? Did they do it to make a fool out of him?

"What are you doing?" she hissed to Ginny.

"What do you mean?"

"Why is Harry here? And don't ask me what I mean again, you know _exactly _what I mean!" Ginny smiled slyly.

"It was Kailah's idea."

"I'm going to kill her!"

"I wouldn't. She still has to pay Harry when he's done."

"_Pay _him? You mean Kailah hired him?"

"Of course." Hermione flopped back in her chair and shook her head.

Harry noticed Hermione didn't seem to be too happy to see him this evening and his stomach sank when he saw her slump in her chair. Kailah nudged him in the side to get his attention and he realized that she'd been talking to him.

"Sorry, what?"

"I said are you going to get started anytime soon? The arrangement _was _for a three hour show." He nodded, swallowing hard.

"Sure," he said, clearing his throat. "Er, could you tell Ginny to change the song to track seven then put the CD on random?" She nodded and hurried across the room. Harry shook himself out and rolled his head on his neck the way he did to loosen up before any other show as the music changed to a song he'd chosen strictly for its strong beat. He was glad this song was first, as the leather costume he'd put on for the first part of the show was now getting very warm and the fast pace of the music would help him along in getting out of it.

He moved into the middle of the room as he heard the opening lyrics- he mouthed them along with the artist, heading towards Parvati and Padma. He walked around their chairs to stand behind Padma, leaning over to nuzzle her neck while the bass began pounding through the room. He felt her giggle as she attempted to squirm away.

"That tickled!" he heard her say to her twin as he continued around the assembled group, stopping next at Katie Bell. He came around to the front of her chair and crouched down to bury his face in the front of Katie's blouse, shaking his head back and forth. She shrieked and laughed as she half-heartedly tried to push him off her. He stood and went to Cho, thinking that he was going to have to be careful with her, but as she wasn't showing if she _was _expecting another child with her husband, he leaned down near her ear so she could hear him.

"I have to ask before I do anything else, are the rumors true?" She turned to look at him in confusion. "Are you um..." He gestured to her stomach.

She looked down and realized what it was he wanted to know, then shook her head before answering, "No, my husband and I have decided not to have any more children for a while, three is enough for me right now." Harry smirked and pulled her to her feet, and slithered down to the floor and back up, making sure to keep contact with her body the whole time.

He moved over to Alicia next, and sat on her lap. Her eyes opened wide and her mouth dropped open when he began rubbing his bum against her. Ginny whistled loudly from where she sat two chairs over. Harry looked over at her with a grin and turned back to Alicia as he stood. He leaned down with his left shoulder towards her. She looked at him, and he nodded to the zipper that attached the two pieces of his costume. She reached up and with a few slight tugs, Harry pulled free, leaving Alicia holding the sleeve. She let out a tiny squeal and held it up triumphantly.

Determinedly ignoring Hermione, who was watching his every move like a hawk for the time being, Harry moved over one spot, behind Fleur's chair and ran his hands over the front of her arms, making her blush heavily and clench her arms across her stomach when he came around to her front and knelt down, forcing her knees apart.

"Merde!" she shouted with laughter when Harry put his head between her thighs, where he growled softly for a second before rising to head over to Hannah.

"Don't even _think _of it, Potter!" the former Hufflepuff admonished him clenching all her limbs to her tightly. He merely grinned and pulled her out of her chair, then picked her up and sat her against his body so that she had a leg on either side of him. Hannah grabbed hold of his shoulders in fear that he'd drop her, but started laughing when he began to lift and drop her repeatedly against his hips. When he'd put her back on the floor, he turned his right shoulder to her. She delightedly pulled the zipper and his other arm was free of the leather casing. "Do I get to keep this?" she giggled.

"For now," he winked at her. "But I'll need it back later." He turned to Hannah's right and saw Susan. She looked back at him, her eyes widening as he sat on her lap, facing her. He leaned forward and rolled his hips against her, noticing that she was the first one to wrap her arms around him while still sitting down.

"Sorry, I just couldn't resist, Harry," she said as he rose from her lap. He leaned back down so he could answer her.

"No worries. You're _allowed_ to touch me, it's part of the show."

"Do we still tip you?" She seemed pretty knowledgeable about what he was doing. He grinned at her.

"You can if you want, but I'm getting paid pretty well tonight." He looked to Kailah, who winked at him. He smirked back and crossed over to her next.

"Well, hello, Harry!" she said as he came to stand in front of her. He turned, flipping his right leg over her lap as he did, so he was straddling her backwards, and sat down. Then he leaned forward, placing his hands on the floor, and looked over his shoulder at her. "What?" she asked, tittering. He wiggled his hips, a clear invitation for her to smack him on his bum. She raised a hand and lightly patted him, to the groans of everyone else in the room, including Hermione, who was starting to get into the spirit of the show, now that she'd had a drink or two.

"You can do better than that, Kailah," Harry jokingly admonished her. "Come on and hit me!" She raised her hand again and brought it down with a _whack!_ that could be heard over the music.

Kailah felt Harry's body jerk and thought that she'd really hurt him, but he turned around again and said, "Is that all you've got? I've seen _trees _that hit harder than that!" He heard all the witches in the room laughing as they knew he was referring to the Whomping Willow that stood on the Hogwarts grounds. And because he'd teased her like that, she brought her hand down with what felt to him like the _force _of that same tree. He brought his legs back underneath him and straightened, wincing as the seat of his trousers rubbed where she'd smacked him.

It had stung like hell the first time, but Mitch always told the guys to "Keep egging the women on until they turned your arse as red as a traffic lamp." Harry was glad that he'd still been clothed when he'd decided to do that part tonight, but he knew that his poor bum was going to bear Kailah's hand print when he got down to what was underneath that leather.

"Harry! Over here!"

He turned to see Maureen waving to him as the CD changed tracks. She pointed at the next seat, to Penelope, who hid her face in her hands with a giggle when she realized what Maureen was doing. He grinned at them and crossed the room as the next song started. He pulled both women to their feet and bringing them close to his body, turned himself into a Harry sandwich for a minute before propping one foot on Penelope's chair and indicating the zipper at the top of his thigh. She readily yanked the tab, and found herself holding the left leg of his costume. Harry sighed inwardly with relief. At least _that _part was cooler now. His arms were still feeling heat, but he believed that was due to the fact that he was once again in between Maureen and Penelope, and they were following his moves, the three of them grinding their way to the floor and back up, then slowly bending forward and backward. He heard a whistle come from behind him and he turned as his dance partners resumed their seats.

"You called, Angelina?" he said when he saw her smug expression. He headed to her chair and pulled her up, then laid her down on the floor. She looked up at him questioningly, and squealed when Harry dropped his body between her legs and started thrusting against her pelvis.

"Oh sweet Merlin! That is the lewdest thing I have ever seen!" he heard Minerva say to Molly when he rose back up onto his knees to help Angelina up.

_**She thinks **_**that **_**was raunchy? Wait until she sees what I do next! **_he thought and turned to her, a devilish glint in his emerald eyes. He was in front of her in a flash, and climbed up onto the chairs on either side of her. This put him directly in her face, and after asking Molly to hold his left leg and Parvati his right, he reached down and grabbed his former teacher's hands and brought them up behind him, clapping them against his ass. He put his own hands on her head and rocked his hips back and forth. Molly laughed so hard she nearly lost her grip on Harry's leg, but he jumped down a second later and took Minerva's hand again, this time bringing it up to his throat. She pulled down the zipper and he spun out of the remaining top piece of his outfit. He returned to his starting point, between the Patil twins, this time choosing Parvati to lavish his attention on.

She clenched her hands on the edges of her seat to let him know she didn't want to be taken out of her chair in any way. He tilted is head to one side, thinking for a moment. He had an idea and got down on his knees, leaning towards her.

"What is he doing?" Cho asked Ginny.

"I don't know, but she seems to like it." Parvati's eyes had closed when Harry started whispering in her ear. Just silly little things like Quidditch stats, but the way he said it would have made _anything _sound sexy. She quickly released the chair and threw her arms around his neck when he asked her to.

He fell back onto the floor, taking her with him, and pulled her up above his head. She looked down at him in surprise and her eyes nearly fell out of her head when the next thing she felt was a very strong hum right at her center. She scrambled backwards on Harry's body, but he stopped her when she got to his waist and turned her around. The other women cheered when he performed much the same move with her as he'd done with Hannah, only in reverse, and he brought his hips up whenever hers came down.

As soon as she was back in her chair, Parvati fanned herself with her hands and laughed with the others. Harry slowly turned to his left and his gaze settled on Molly. She shook her head emphatically. He nodded and beckoned her to him with a finger, taking her hand to make her stand up.

"I'll go easy on you," he said as he moved her to the middle of the room. "Nothing too naughty." Having seen him in action before, she didn't know whether to believe him or not. But he was true to his word and only came around behind her, put his hands on her hips and the two of them swayed back and forth for a minute or two. He returned her to her seat and offered her his right leg. He smiled slightly when he saw her blush when one of the dancing colored lights passed over her, but she still reached out and pulled the zipper, freeing his last clad limb. Harry spun around on the heels of his knee high boots to Ginny, who was next to Hermione. He'd pulled her up and flipped her over before she could blink, but was shocked himself when Ginny had the brass to move her hands from where they had started on his waist to move across the front of his crotch. He nearly dropped her, but managed to hold on while he turned her right side up again. As he was getting down to only two other women before he got to Hermione, he held out his left foot to Ginny when she sat down. Now he felt vaguely ridiculous, having one boot and the remainder of his leather costume on now, so he hurried to Hermione's other side and after repeating his action from Katie, had her mother remove his right boot.

"I think you're next, Andrea," Kailah whispered in her ear as a now barefoot Harry turned in their direction. "He must be saving Hermione for last."

"After all that he's done so far, what could he _possibly _do to get our attention with her?" Andrea laughed, and looked up as Harry reached her and held out his hand. She took it and was led to the middle of the room, where he beckoned to Hermione as well. Ginny pushed her out of her seat and she joined him and Andrea. He indicated for her to lay down, which she did, wondering what was going to happen. He lay across his fiancée's body, kissed her deeply and shimmied up so that his crotch was over her face. He balanced himself on one arm, and reached down to adjust the final zipper tab. Hermione lifted her head and grabbed it with her teeth, just as Harry had planned, and moved so that it came undone. Andrea leaned down at his request and started tugging the scrap of a garment from his hips with Hermione's help. It was slightly difficult as Harry had been sweating a bit, but soon it was off, and Harry stood up, revealing that underneath he'd been wearing a new electric blue thong that was a size smaller than the ones he usually wore. He'd gotten the idea from Cameron, who had done hen parties before. He'd told Harry that the women would tip better, the more he advertised.

Unfortunately for Harry though, this caught Hermione's attention, and she was not happy about it. She smiled tightly when Harry helped her off the floor, and turned her back on him as soon as she was on her feet.

_**Uh-oh**_ he thought. _**What did I do?**_ He was going to have to ask her the first chance he had.__

The song on the CD ended and he motioned for Kailah to turn it down.

"Well, now that everyone is warmed up," he said as soon as the volume was at a quieter level. "It's time for me to go change into another costume." He heard light groans from his audience, except for Hermione and Kailah, the later knowing that soon he would be in no costume whatsoever, and he still had two more hours to go. He glanced at his fiancée a few times as he gathered the pieces of his first costume together to take them back to the bathroom. She didn't meet his eyes once. She bolted from her seat to follow as soon as he disappeared through the door.

"Harry James Potter!" she hissed, storming down the corridor after him. He turned around, his eyes growing round as he saw the sight of his fiancée stomping towards him.

"Yes, Hermione?" he said, swallowing hard.

"What the _hell _is that about?" She gestured to his thong. "Any reason why you're showing off more tonight than at the other shows you've done?"

"You wouldn't like it if I told you," he said, turning back the way he was headed.

"I wouldn't, huh?" She continued to follow him. "And why not?"

"Because it's not something that you really want to hear." They reached the bathroom door. "I'll tell you later, after the show, O.K.?"

"No, I want to hear it now."

"I don't think you do." 

"Why don't you let _me_ be the judge of that?" Harry opened the door and waved her into the room first.

"It's just so I would get better tips," he said, moving past her to his bag. He stuffed the leather bits into it and started pulling out jeans, black t-shirt, a leather jacket, and another pair of knee high boots.

"Better tips? From what I heard from Ginny, Kailah _hired_ you to be here tonight. And what I don't understand, is why you _accepted_, Harry!"

"I didn't know it was going to be _your _hen party, Hermione," he said, stepping out of the blue thong and into a red one. _This_ one was his regular size, she noted.

"And why would you need to get better tips?" He adjusted the sides of the thong before saying anything.

"I can't tell you," he said.

"Can't or won't?" 

"I guess that's your choice," he answered, and began putting on the clothes.

"Will you tell me just one thing?"

"If I can."

"Why, when you realized who the party was for, didn't you say that you couldn't do it, and then leave?"

"That I can't tell you, either. I'm sorry."

"Harry!" she whined.

"Hermione, I would tell you if I could, but I can't. You would think it's stupid, and get really upset with me."

"I'm upset with you _now. _I don't know how it could be any worse."

"If I told you, you would know." He finished dressing and sat on the lid of the toilet to pull on the boots.

"If I promise not to get angry, would you tell me?"

"Hermione, I love you. With all that I am. And as much as I don't like keeping anything a secret from you, I absolutely _cannot_ tell you."

"Is it something bad?" she asked warily.

"No! Of course not!"

"Then why can't you tell me?"

"I just can't. But I promise," he crossed to her and wrapped his arms around her waist. She didn't resist, but didn't respond, either. "It's nothing that will hurt either of us."

He kissed her softly, and she was just starting to respond when someone knocked on the door.

"Oi, you two! Harry's got at least another hour and a half before you can start messing around!" called Kailah through the dark wood panel.Hermione chuckled and broke away from Harry to head back to the sitting room.

"See you in a bit," she whispered with a smile that he noticed didn't quite meet her eyes. He nodded in response and she was gone, slipping past Kailah as she left the room. The ecclectic blonde stared after her friend.

"What's up?" she asked when Harry came out into the corridor. She jerked her head in the direction Hermione had gone.

"Nothing. We'll straighten it out later." They went back to the party and Kailah asked Harry if there was any particular song he wanted played.

"Yes, track eighteen." He stepped into the center of the room as she went to shuffle the songs again.

"Don't be scared, I've done this before," he heard a few seconds later. He started moving around the room to the beat stopping at Hannah first. She pulled the waistband of his jeans out and tucked something into it. He knew what it was and leaned down to kiss her cheek as a thank you before starting to remove his jacket. It flew across the room and landed in a corner by the sitting room door. The others had seen what Hannah had done and after brief whispered exlpanations to the purebloods that had never seen something like this, they each reached into their bags and pockets. The ones that didn't have Muggle money traded with others that did. At any rate, by the time he reached Parvati, she knew what it was she was to do and slipped a pound note into his jeans.

He thanked her as well, and turned to her sister. A few seconds later, his t-shirt joined the jacket and his moves were getting bawdier. Before long he was standing in the center of the room, clad only in the red thong, and was close to loosing that as well. He wanted to tease them to the end of the song, and it was coming up fast. As it approached, he moved into the middle of the room and hooked his thumbs into the lycra garment, easing it down bit by bit. It hit the floor just as the last beats of the song sounded and he kicked it away, turning around to the astounded women.

"Holy shit!" he heard Susan say softly. Minerva's eyes widened in shock that one of her own house would have _this _much bravery, Molly simply gasped, and the others that had not seen Harry this way all started at his, _ahem_, party favor in awed silence as the next song started. Unlike the show where he'd stripped completely down with the rest of the Kings Of Hearts, Harry _did _continue to move around the room in time with the next song, going round the backs of the chairs so that the women woundn't be tempted to touch him too much, he didn't want to have any kind of _reaction _to this.

The only one that he came out front for was Hermione, who while she seemed proud that he was this comfortable with his body to be able to reveal it to people he'd known for the last nine or ten years, also appeared to be a bit ticked off again. He thought it was just that she was still upset about him not telling her why he was dancing here this evening, and decided that he would let her know as soon as they were leaving.

An hour later, he'd changed and removed his last costume, taking that one completely off as well, but staying out in front of his audience as he finished his set. He had now reached the end of what he was being paid for and had retreated to the bathroom once more to redress in the clothes he'd arrived in. Before he did, though, he decided that he'd have to have a shower, and had asked Kailah if it was all right with her. She'd told him to go right on ahead, and handed him the other five thousand she owed him, along with the remainder of the money she'd had in her pocket.

"But you need this for the clean up, food and alcohol. And the deal was for ten thousand." He tried to give it back to her, but she waved it off.

"I was bullshitting you, Harry. The food was already paid for, the alcohol was from my own liquor cabinet, and I'll do the cleanup in the morning."

"Kailah," he attempted to protest.

"Take the money, Harry. Consider it my wedding present to you." He smiled and nodded, then headed to the bathroom, where he found Hermione waiting for him.

"O.K., the show is done. Now I want to know why you were here tonight." Harry shed the thong he'd put on after finishing his last dance and stepped into the shower stall.

"If I tell you, promise not to get mad?" he asked, turning on the water.

"I promise."

"It was for our honeymoon."

"What?"

"Our honeymoon. I wanted you to have the trip of your dreams, and couldn't give you that on what I have in my vault in Gringotts. Not and have enough money to live on when we come back."

"You mean to tell me that you hid that from me instead of just letting me know? Harry, I would have gladly helped pay for our honeymoon."

"I don't want you to help pay for it," his voice carried through the glass door. "I wanted it to be completely paid for by me."

"Why? That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard. We're supposed to be equals in this relationship."

"And we are. I just don't want you spending your money on this."

"Harry Potter, you are sounding chauvinistic! There is no _my money _or _your money_! It is _our _money and _our _honeymoon!"

"I know, but I want to pay for it on my own."

"You know who you sound like? Stephen!" Harry pushed the shower door open and glared at her.

"You have _got _to be kidding," he said. "That was a low blow, Hermione. Comparing me to that asshole." He closed the door again.

"Well, that's how he always acted. He wanted to pay for everything, just so I didn't know how much it cost."

"It's not that I don't want you to know."

"Then why won't you let me help pay for it?"

"Because I want to do it myself!" he shouted.

"Don't yell at me, Harry," Hermione said, crossing her arms.

"Then don't keep harping on this," he spat back, turning the water off and stepping out onto the plush bathmat. He grabbed a towel and wrapped it around his waist. "I don't want you to help pay for our honeymoon, and that's final!"

"That's final? That's your last word on it?" He nodded and started gathering his clothes. "Then let me tell you this, Harry Potter. I am _not _going to marry someone that has so little respect for me that he won't let me help pay for my own honeymoon." Harry turned around to her in shock. She yanked her engagement ring off and threw it across the room at him.

"That's _my _final word!" She stormed out of the bathroom, leaving him standing there, staring at the ring that lay at his feet.


	58. What Brings Them Back Together

Stripped Bare- Chapter 58

What Brings Them Back Together

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

Ron witnessed a scene similar to one that happened almost a year earlier, but this time in reverse. Hermione Apparated into the flat and stormed down the corridor to her bedroom, slamming the door behind her. A few minutes later, Harry appeared, threw his bag on a chair and followed her.

"Hermione!" Ron heard him call out as he headed towards her room.

"Leave me alone, Harry!" she shrieked back.

"You don't really want to do this, do you?"

"If you can't understand the way I feel, then yes! Now go away and leave me the fuck alone!" Harry came back to the living room.

"What's going on?" Ron asked worriedly.

"Hermione broke up with me."

"What!" The redhead sat up straight in his chair. "What happened?"

"You know that show that I was to dance for tonight?" Ron nodded. "It was Hermione's hen party."

"Oh, no."

"Yeah. She didn't seem to be to happy to see me at first, but she loosened up after a bit, then at the end, she blew up at me when I told her what the money I was being paid tonight was for."

"Your honeymoon. Yeah, I remember that. You don't want her to know where you're going, and in order to keep it secret, you can't let her pay for anything."

"And I was going to tell her that, but she accused me of acting like Stephen, and called me a chauvinist. Then she threw the ring at me and stormed out." He dug in his pocket and pulled out said ring.

"Why don't you tell her what's going on, then?"

"I would, but she doesn't want to talk to me. You heard her, she told me to leave her alone."

"Actually, she told you to leave her _the fuck _alone."

"Ha ha, Ron. I'll deal with this," Harry said, holding up his hands in defense to his friend. "Don't worry about it, I'm not going to make you the middle man here. And I'm sure Hermione won't, either. You know how she is about stuff like this. Take last year for example. She didn't talk about that prick for like six weeks afterward."

"Harry, mate, there's just one problem you're forgetting here. Your wedding was supposed to be in _two_ weeks."

"I know. But I'm not cancelling anything until I'm absolutely sure that she doesn't want to go through with the wedding." He rubbed his eyes wearily. "I'm going to bed. See you in the morning."

"I'm going to Ireland in the morning, Harry."

"Oh, that's right. The Cannons are training there for a week. Well, see you when you get back, then." 

"Night, Harry."

"Night, Ron." He started towards his room. "Good night, Hermione!" he called.

"Sod off, Harry!" she yelled back. Harry looked sadly over his shoulder at Ron and went to bed.

The next morning, Harry walked into the kitchen to find Hermione leaning against the counter, drinking her coffee. She looked up, saw him and turned to face the sink until he'd gotten his own coffee, then she left the room.

"Hermione, you're going to have to talk to me sometime," he called after her. His response was the sound of her bedroom door slamming shut.

This went on for the rest of that day and the rest of the week, until Ron returned the next Sunday just before seven. He found Harry sitting in on the sofa, staring at a commercial on the television.

"Any progress?" Ron asked. Harry shook his head silently. Hermione's door opened and she came down the corridor as far as the bathroom, but stopped as soon as she'd spotted Harry, and turned around and the next thing they heard was her door slamming shut again.

"You'd think she'd tire of doing that after the hundredth time," Harry said exhaustedly. "She can't stand to be in the same room with me, Ron."

"That does it, I'm going to go talk to her." Ron turned to the corridor.

"No! I said I'll deal with it. I don't want you to be the moderator and be forced to choose sides." Ron came back to the middle of the room and flopped down in a chair.

"But you two can't go on like this, Harry. It's killing you. And it has to be killing her, as well." He jerked his head in Hermione's general direction.

"I'll be fine. Don't get involved, please."

"All right. What did you two have for dinner? I'm starved!"

"I had a sandwich, Hermione didn't even come out to eat dinner."

"She hasn't eaten all week?" Ron asked in alarm. "She's so mad at you that she'd rather starve herself than come out here and get food?"

"I didn't say that, Ron. I just said she didn't come out to eat _tonight_. She waits until she hears me go to the loo or my room, then she goes to the kitchen."

"Oh. Why hasn't she come out tonight, then?" Harry gave a sly smirk.

"Because I haven't moved from this spot since around five. I made my sandwich and came out here with it. I figure she'll come out when she gets hungry enough, and I'm going to be right here when she does."

"I know she'll have to come out by tomorrow. She'll have to work."

"She'll have more chances to avoid me at the Ministry, Ron."

"So? She'll be out of her room, won't she? And maybe you can talk to her before she gets the chance to Apparate."

"I know Hermione, she'll be gone before I get up."

"I can try to keep her here for you."

"That would be you getting involved, Ron. And I don't want her getting angry at you because she thinks you're taking my side. That's how it would look to her." The telephone rang in the kitchen and Ron went to answer it.

"It's Andrea," he called and stuck his head back round the door to beckon to Harry with the reciever. Confused, Harry stood and started towards the door at the same time as Hermione came down the hall.

"Why is she ringing me this late at night?" she asked.

"She isn't ringing _you_," Ron informed her as she held out her hand for the phone. "It's for Harry." Hermione stopped in shock. Her eyes flicked briefly between Harry and Ron. She turned and started back to her room.

"Only been a week and he's making dates with one of my friends," they heard her mutter as she left. Harry looked hopelessly after her as he took the phone.

"Andrea?" he said, stepping into the kitchen past Ron.

"I have a question for you, and I know it's only been a short time since you and Hermione broke up, and you don't have to do this for me if you don't feel up to it right now," she said in a rush.

"Whoa! Slow down, Andrea. Start over." He heard Andrea take a deep breath as if preparing to let out another rapid fire spiel. "Slowly," he ammended. Half the breath was expelled.

"O.K. I know Hermione just broke up with you, but I was wondering, if you felt up to it, could you do something for me?"

"Andy, I'm sorry, but I love Hermione and I'm not going to do anything to hurt her."

"I don't want you to do anything that would hurt her," she replied, confusion in her voice. "I want you to set me up."

"You do?" Harry asked, surprised. "With who?"

"You promise you won't laugh?"

"Of course I won't."

"Could you set me up with Brenden?" she asked softly.

"Brenden from the Kings of Hearts? _That _Brenden?"

"You think it would be hopeless, don't you?"

"No! Not at all. It's just that he's almost as shy as I was, even though he does get quite a few dates."

"I've been interested in him for a few weeks now, and I know you have a show tonight, so I was wondering, could you?" Harry hadn't been intending to go to the show that evening, but she sounded so hopeful, he couldn't refuse.

"Sure, I'll see what I can do."

"Thank you, Harry!" she squealed.

"You're welcome," he chuckled. They said goodbye and he hung up the phone.

"What did she want?" Ron asked as Harry came out of the kitchen.

"She asked me to set her up with Brenden Sumtner."

"Isn't he one of the guys in the group?"

"Yeah, and there's a show tonight." He looked at the clock. "I wasn't going to go, but I promised her that I would ask him."

"What time does it start?"

"Nine, so I'd better get going." He hurried to his room to change and get his bag. He returned a few minutes later, and grabbed his jacket from its hook by the door. "Don't get into it, Ron."

"What?"

"I know you. As soon as I'm gone, you were going to go and talk to Hermione. Leave it alone. I want your word that you won't bother her tonight." Ron sighed, knowing that if he gave Harry his word, there would be no way he could get to the bottom of this problem between his two friends. "Ron?"

"I won't bother her."

"That's not good enough, Ron."

"All right, fine! I give you my word." Harry nodded and Disapparated. Ron sat down on the sofa and started flipping through the channels. Within a few minutes, Hermione made an appearance.

"So, where did he go?" she spat. "Make a date with Andrea did he?"

"No, she wanted him to fix her up with Brenden. Harry went to the show tonight to ask him about it." Hermione's face showed her surprise.

"She called to ask him to fix her up?"

"That's what he told me." He thought he saw a small smile forming on her lips, but it was gone the next second.

"Oh, well it's none of my business if he wanted to date Andrea, anyway." She sat down across from Ron, and noticed that he was staring at her in disbelief. "What?"

"What are you doing, Hermione? I promised Harry that I wouldn't get into it, but I can't stand to see you doing this to yourselves." A little thought nagged at the back of his brain, reminding him of his promise, but if _Hermione _started talking first, then he wouldn't be breaking that promise, would he?

"Harry was the one that started it, not me."

"You know that he wouldn't do anything to hurt you."

"Oh, but he did! He refused to let me help pay for our honeymoon and wouldn't tell me why, just that he wanted to do it by himself."

"If he wants to do that for you, why not let him?"

"Because it's not right that Harry pay for everything, Ron!"

"Why not? He just wants this one thing, and that's to give you the honeymoon of your dreams. If he wants to finance it, I say let him."

"You're just as bad as he is!" Hermione jumped up and rushed to her room. Ron thought that would be the last he saw of her until the next morning, but she came back, carrying a book, which she threw into his lap.

"What's this?" he asked, looking at the cover.

"I've been writing in that since I was with Stephen about my feelings, my thoughts and general observations about my life. I guess you could classify it as a journal."

"A journal? That's like a diary, right? I thought people liked to keep their diaries private?"

"Normally I would, but I'd like you to read it, so you understand why I feel the way I do right now." Ron sighed and opened the front cover and glancing over most of the entries, but reading bits of the ones that caught his attention. -

8 January

I just woke up from the strangest dream! Harry, Ron and I were traveling all over the countryside exactly like we did when we were looking for Voldemort's horcruxes, only this time for some reason, I was in love with Ron! That is the wierdest thing- he's like a brother to me...

16 January

I've got to start planning my wedding! Stephen proposed to me last night, and I accepted...

12 February

Stephen asked me if a friend of his cousin could be in the wedding. In the bridal party of course. I don't know her and didn't feel comfortable with it. To tell the truth, I don't know why he even brought it up. Her name is Nadia...

19 February

That girl that Stephen asked me about the other day isn't able to be in the wedding right now. This might change, so I'm still going to purchase a dress for her, just in case. But at any rate, I'm just happy she isn't going to be there on my day. There is just something about her that I don't like...

18 March

I'm really getting the impression that Harry and Ron don't like Stephen. I don't know why, he's nice to them and is never rude. There is the thing about him calling me Doll, I absolutely hate that! I've asked him to stop, but he tells me it's an endearment. Whatever, I hate it! Harry has even taken to leaving the room when Stephen comes over, with the excuse that he has to work. If he really had to work that much, he'd be the Minister of Magic...

20 June

The wedding plans are coming along well even if I don't really have a choice about much of them. Stephen chose the colors, and now my bridesmaids are going to look like they belong in Slytherin. I asked Ginny and our friends Kailah, Andrea and Stephen's sister Maureen to be my bridesmaids. They were more than happy to agree, and as Ginny is marrying Seamus Finnegan in a few days, I can get an idea of what the ceremony will be like for me. Always doing my research, ha ha ha!...

5 August

Well, we're down to the final few weeks of me being Hermione Granger. Next month I will become Hermione Whitnahl. Hmmm, don't know if I care for the way that sounds together. Sort of like it would have been with me and Ron or Harry. The names just wouldn't go together. I mean Hermione Weasley? Yuck! Or Hermione Potter? Well, that doesn't sound bad, in fact, I sort of like it. What am I saying! I'm not marrying Harry or Ron, I'm marrying Stephen. I wonder what he would think about me keeping my name as it is, or hyphenating it. Hermione Granger-Whitnahl...

18 September

Last night the girls took me out for my hen party, and we were having a blast. We'd gone to see this male dance group at a pub near here and I was getting into it, yelling and cheering like all the other women there. Then it happened. One of the dancers came out to do his dance, and he came over by our table a few minutes into it, and I realized it was Harry! He looked over at us, and even though he wasn't wearing his glasses, and had somehow covered his scar, I saw his eyes and knew it was him. He ran from the room and Disapparated home. I didn't stay for the rest of the show, I went after him to tell him how embarrassed he'd made me. He told me he did it because he was so shy with girls and wanted to work on that. Could have fooled me the way he acted when I went into his room. All right, I barged into his room when he was changing his clothes, but that's not the point. Anyway, when I told him that someone from my tabel might tell Stephen and I didn't want that to happen since he was still ticked that I wouldn't move in with him, Harry said Steve didn't seem to upset about it to him. I yelled at him and stormed out of his room. I forgot about that until this morning when Stephen called to tell me that Nadia was able to be in the wedding after all...

21 September

Stephen and I are over. I had to go to the flat he shares with his sister to get my veil because Maureen wanted to put some sequins on it, and I found out that Stephen had been cheating on me! And not with just anyone, but Nadia, the woman that he wanted to add to the wedding party! I walked in on them, actually walked in on them, when they were having sex. I have never been so humiliated. I should have listened to Harry when he said that Stephen didn't seem to really care care about me, but instead I made him apologize. I blew up at him, and now I feel so bad for treating Harry like I did...

10 October

I just had the most incredible experience of my life! I was going to my room to do some work and passed Harry's door. He called me back and started talking to me, trying to get me out of the slump I've been in, what with Stephen and all, and we talked about it until he remembered that he had to rehearse his dance. I asked if I could stay and watch, and he said that might be a good idea because he wanted to, as he put it, 'get his moves down'. Ha ha ha! Anyway, it was HOT! I couldn't believe that Harry could move like he does when he's dancing. He got into a side split position, I didn't know he was able to do that!...

10 December

I JUST SLEPT WITH HARRY! It was amazing how it happened. Ginny, Andrea, Maureen and Kailah all dragged me out of the flat tonight to go see Harry dance again, and we'd agreed to help him with his confidence, so we gave him larger tips than we did the other guys. The others gave him fives, but I gave him a twenty. Now I know that I'm sounding like a fan instead of his best friend, but after promising him that I would help him find a girlfriend, I have been having... feelings towards him. Well, when we got home, he confronted me about it, and the next thing I knew, he'd kissed me! Then he KISSED me. It was incredible, and almost hot enough to set me on fire. We went to his room and after he took off all his clothes, I figured out that he was a virgin because he...

16 February

I haven't written in here for a while, but I have good news. Harry and I are now dating! It's been official for two days, and I have never been happier. I love him so much, and he treats me a million percent better than Super Git...

10 May

For the second time in just over a year, I am engaged! This time, though, I know I'll make it to the altar as it's Harry I'm marrying! It was so romantic the way he proposed last night. The poor guy climbed a tree to get a flower for me and fell on the way back down. He was all right, just landed hard on his bum. He did manage to get to one knee...

The rest of the pages were blank. Ron looked up at Hermione expectantly.

"How is this to explain how you feel?" he asked, handing her the book back.

"Because Harry is acting just like Stephen did."

"Whoa. Hold it right there. I'm not going to take sides because Harry doesn't want me to, but I'm not going to sit here and have you compare my best friend and the man you're supposed to be in love with to _that _ignorant, pompous, big-headed..."

"I get the point, Ron. But that's what it seems like to me, he is keeping secrets from me, just like Stephen did." She stared at the cover of her journal

"It's not the same thing. Stephen was cheating on you, Harry just doesn't want you to pay for any part of the honeymoon because if you do, then that new travel agency in Diagon Alley would be able to tell you where you're going. Oh, shit!" He covered his mouth, knowing that he'd said too much.

"What?" Hermione's head snapped up.

"Nothing," Ron said from behind his hand.

"Ronald, what do you mean the travel agency would be able to tell me where I'm going?" Ron dropped his hand with a sigh.

"Harry said that there is a clause in the contract their clients sign that says if they wish to keep their destination a secret from the rest of their travel companions, they just have to say so. But if that party pays for anything, and I mean _anything _involved in planning the trip, then that clause is broken and the agency employees are allowed to tell."

"You mean _that's _why he won't let me help pay for it, and why he won't tell me what's going on?" The redhead nodded, and she sat down in the chair behind her. "Oh no. What have I done?"

Ron didn't have the chance to answer as they heard someone running up the stairs outside their door and Kailah burst into the flat.

"You have to come!" she panted.

"What's the matter?" Ron asked atanding and crossing to her.

"It's Stephen. Harry and I were walking home from the show so I could talk to Hermione, and Stephen jumped out of _nowhere_ and started beating on him!" Ron and Hermione sprung into action. They grabbed their wands and were out the door within seconds, and clattering down the staircase.

"Where are they, Kailah?" Hermione asked, worried that they wouldn't get to Harry in time.

"In a park on the next street," she answered, leading the way. They arrived at the site a few minutes later, and Hermione had to bite back a scream. Harry was holding his own against the other man, but Stephen had obviously gotten a few good hits on him already. His lip and nose were bleeding and he seemed to be favoring his right leg. At the moment they were standing apart, but Harry launched himself at Stephen's middle, his arms wrapping around his opponent and forcing him back against a tree.

"Oh God, Harry!" Hermione moaned in fear when Stephen clenched his fists together and brought them down on the back of Harry's neck. He dropped to the ground and Stephen began kicking him anywhere that he could reach. Harry's glasses shattered when one kick landed directly on his nose, breaking it as well, and she heard one or possibly more of his bones break as Ron rushed in to defend his friend.

"Get off him, you fucking bastard!" he yelled, pulling out his wand as he shoved Stephen from behind, causing him to land on the ground next to a now unconcious Harry. "Kailah, call the police!" he said, punching Stephen in the mouth. Kailah pulled out her phone and started to dial, but the next second, they heard sirens and a police car appeared from around the corner. It screeched to a halt next to Hermione and two officers jumped out.

"We recieved a call about a fight," they said. Kailah nodded

"The guy with the brown hair started it, he jumped me and the guy with the glasses as we were walking past the park."

"Armed robbery?"

"No," said Hermione. "He used to be my boyfriend until I caught him cheating on me, then he tried to get me back a few months later and Harry, the one with the glasses, made him apologize to me. It embarrassed Stephen, and I think he was trying to get revenge." One of the police officers stepped over to Harry while the other pulled Ron off Stephen.

"He needs to be taken to the hospital," he said when he'd accessed Harry's injuries. "What about these two?"

"Ron was just trying to protect Harry from being killed. As for the other, I now that Harry would want to press charges, so I'm going to do it for him. And we'll get my fiancé to the hospital," she said, holding her head up proudly when Stephen growled at hearing she was to be married to the person who had humiliated him and strained against the handcuffs that were now being put on him. The officer dug into his prisoner's pocket and pulled out a wallet.

"Stephen Whitnahl," he said, when he'd read the name off the ID inside. "You're under arrest for assault." Ron, Hermione and Kailah didn't hear the rest as the officers led him away to the car.

"You make sure you call an ambulance right now, all right?" one of them said leaning out the window. Kailah nodded and started dialing as the police car drove away.

"Don't bother, Kailah," Hermione said, taking the phone from her friend and revealing her wand. "I was charming them so that they wouldn't call the amulance themselves. "My fiancé is not going to a Muggle hospital, he's going to St. Mungo's."


	59. Aftermath And Requests Of Trust

Stripped Bare- Chapter 59

Aftermath and Requests of Trust

Author's Note: Sorry that it's taken so long for this update, I had a mild case of writer's block a that I had to work through. I'll give a box of virtual cookies to the first four readers who can guess what Harry asks Hermione for at the end!

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

When Harry woke, he found himself in a hospital bed, and couldn't remember how he'd gotten there. He looked around and realized, upon seeing only blurs, he didn't have his glasses on. Looking for them on the bedside table, he found Hermione asleep in a chair next to him. He smiled at the sight of her, but instantly regretted it.

"Ow!" he groaned. Hermione's eyes snapped open.

"Harry, you're awake!" She took his hand and stared at him as if she hadn't seen him in years. Harry licked his lips, and noticed that the upper was swollen with what felt to him to be a rather wide scab.

"What happened? Where am I?" he croaked, wincing as he tried to sit up.

"You have to be still, Harry!" Hermione said, stopping him with a hand on his shoulder. "You're in St. Mungo's, and the healers have been giving you potions to repair your broken bones. Stephen jumped you when you were coming home, do you remember?"

"Vaguely," he answered. "I remember Kailah and I were passing the park, Stephen grabbed me and told me that I was going to pay for humiliating him, and that I was never going to see my wedding day. I know that I got a few punches in on him, but what happened? How is it that I'm in St. Mungo's?"

"Kailah came running to the flat for help, and when she, Ron and I arrived at the park, you dove at Stephen. He hit you on the back of your neck to make you let go, and started kicking you. Oh, Harry! I'd never been so afraid! I thought I was going to lose you." Tears started falling from her eyes.

"It's all right, Hermione, I'm not going anywhere." He squeezed her hand, noting that his knuckles ached in doing so.

"Harry, I'm so sorry the way I've been acting this past week. I should never have compared you to that- that- that..." She couldn't think of a name bad enough for Stephen. "Ron explained why you didn't want me to help pay for the honeymoon."

Harry's eyes flashed. He'd told Ron not to get involved, and that he didn't want Hermione to know anything until they were on their way to their destination.

"Don't be mad at him, he did what he had to do, and it made me realize that _I_ was the one that was wrong," she said when he didn't respond. He nodded with a painful frown.

"The fact remains that you _did_ compare me to Stephen," Harry said. "I didn't deserve that, Hermione. I was just trying to keep our honeymoon a surprise for you."

"I know, and I am extremely sorry. If I could find a time turner, I would go back to stop myself from saying it, I swear."

"But you can't. You can't go back and change it, and you _did_ say it. I don't know if I can trust you anymore." She drew back in horror, her tears increasing.

"You mean...are you...breaking up with me?"

"From what I understood when you threw the ring at me the other day, _you_ had broken up with _me_. I spent the next week trying to talk to you, and you blew me off, spending all your time in your bedroom. If we had just talked about what was going on, I would have been able to forgive you for the Stephen remark, but... as it stands right now..." He turned his head back up to the ceiling. "I don't know, Hermione."

"Harry, please," she sobbed. "After I talked to Ron, I was going to apologize to you. As soon as you got home, I swear!" He turned his head towards her, disbelief in his eyes. "I love you, so much. It was killing me to be apart from you, I don't even know why I did it. You have been nothing but wonderful to me the whole time we've been together and I treat you like that, I know it was wrong. Please, please, _please _forgive me!"

"I remember," Harry said thoughtfully. "Stephen showed me a bit of newspaper when he told me that I wasn't going to see my wedding day. It was our engagement announcement. He crumpled it up and threw it in a rubbish bin, then told me that's what he thought of you and our relationship, and punched me in my stomach."

"Harry," Hermione said softly, her voice hitching. He closed his eyes, trying to continue remembering.

"I kidney punched him as soon as I could straighten up, Stephen hit me in the face, and I felt my lip break open. I'm sure my nose was bleeding as well. Kailah screamed, I think. I couldn't see her. I heard someone running, but it wasn't towards me."

"That must have been when she came to the flat for help."

"Stephen managed to knock me down once, and as I was trying to get up, he brought his foot down really hard on my right knee. I thought he'd broken it for a second, but I was able to stand a minute later. He watched me from beside a tree and I had this feeling that if I didn't manage to overpower him, he was going to go after you next. I couldn't let that happen, so I dove at him. The next thing I knew, I was on the ground again, and he was kicking me everywhere. I thought I was going to die, and would never be able to tell you that I love you again." He turned his head to look at her. The look on his battered face made her tears start once more. His eyes were filled with more love than she'd ever seen in them. He started to attempt to sit up again.

"Harry, don't! The healers said specifically that you need to remain still and let your bones mend, if you don't they may not heal correctly."

"Is there any way that you could make this go up, then?" he asked, flinching as he indicated the bed with his bruised hand.

"I'll have to ask if it's all right to do that first. Be right back," she said and left the room to inquire about his request. He thought about looking for his glasses on the bedside table for a moment, but that was halted when someone knocked on the door to his room.

"Mr. Potter?" a male voice said. "May I come in?"

"Sure," Harry said, curious as to who would know already that he was in St. Mungo's, but realized that he didn't know how long he'd been in the hospital. "But call me Harry."

The man came into his line of vision, dressed in what appeared to be a policeman's uniform. Harry's eyes widened as the officer sat in the chair Hermione had vacated.

"Don't worry, Harry," the policeman said. "I'm just here to get your version of what happened in the park last night. My partner and I were the ones that answered the call about your fight with Mr. Stephen Whitnahl. My name is Alex Sumtner, I believe you know my younger brother?"

"Brenden? You're Brenden's brother?" Officer Sumtner nodded. "How did you get into St. Mungo's?"

"It's easy when you're a wizard, Harry. I finished Hogwarts the year before you started."

"Why didn't Brenden say anything?"

"It's probably just force of habit. I'm not on the best terms with my parents. They don't like anyone in the family to talk about me. They didn't understand why it was that I went to school to learn magic, just to push it aside when I finished to join the police force."

"If you don't mind my asking, why did you?"

"Because I couldn't think of a career that interested me enough in the Wizarding world. I took the required NEWTS to be an Auror, but didn't really want to do that. I wanted to capture Muggle criminals. So I put my wand in my school trunk, stored that up in my parents' attic, and just walked away from all of it." Harry nodded. "But I'm here to get your account of what happened last night." He pulled out a pad of paper and a pen, and smiled sheepishly. "I would have normally used my tape recorder," he pulled a small electronic device from his pocket as well. "But it's not going to work too well in here, is it?"

"I could make it work, if I had my wand," Harry said. Alex opened the drawer of the cabinet next to Harry's bed.

"Is this it?" he asked, drawing out the wand he found inside and holding it up. Harry nodded and tried to lift his arm to take it. It caused him too much pain, so Officer Sumtner put the wand in his hand instead.

"Thanks," Harry said and muttered the incantation needed to allow the recorder to function. A second later he heard the hum of the tape running along the mechanisms inside.

"Now, why don't you tell me, in your own words, what happened the night of 12 September?" Harry rattled off exactly what he'd told Hermione, but adding something that he'd not told her, because he hadn't wanted to frighten her anymore than she had been.

"He told me that I wasn't going to see my wedding day, because he was going to kill me. There was a witness to this, her name is Kailah Shaw, I'm sure that she would be more than willing to back me up."

"I'll be talking to her as well when I leave here. Is there anything else you can tell me?" Harry shook his head as carefully as he could and told him no. Alex stood, turning off the tape recorder. "All right, Harry. I'm finished here. If your story checks out with Miss Shaw, then that and the evidence of the pictures I took last night could get Stephen Whitnahl put in prison for attempted murder." A gasp came from the doorway.

"Stephen tried to _kill_ Harry!" Hermione's voice reached Harry's ears.

"Shit," he muttered softly. "I was hoping that she wouldn't find that out right away." She heard him and rushed over to the bedside, putting down the tray she was holding on the rolling table, which she pushed over the bed as she tried to get an explanation from him.

"Why didn't you want me to know about that? I wanted to press charges against Stephen for attacking you as it was."

"I don't know if you would be able to do that, Miss Granger. The attack wasn't on you, it was on Harry."

"I was there! I saw Stephen kicking Harry!" Harry's eyes snapped to Hermione.

"I forgot about that," he said. "I'm sorry, Hermione, I didn't want you to worry about it."

"I know you had the best intentions about that, Harry, but when I stand here right now and see the damage that he's done..." She started to sob.

"Do I really look _that_ bad?" Hermione reached down and pushed a lever on the side of his bed. The head slowly started to raise up. Harry saw as he was moved into a sitting position that his right leg was in traction. "What's wrong with my leg!" he exclaimed.

"Your leg is fine, Harry. The healers just wanted to keep it still while the swelling goes down." She noticed that the police officer had turned on his tape recorder again to get Harry's reactions upon seeing his injuries for the first time. Harry looked down at himself and saw that his left arm was wrapped in a bandage from shoulder to elbow, his right was heavily bruised the whole way down, and his his chest was wrapped in bandages as well.

"Any reason I'm not in a gown?" he asked sardonically, noting that what parts of his upper body not ecased in the wrapping were bare skin.

"There was too much bruising, and you had four broken ribs. It was just easier to wrap you up like this then to put a gown on you." Harry lifted the top of the sheet covering his lap when he realized it was easier to move his right hand in this position.

"Well, at least I _do_ have on underwear," he chuckled. "What about my face?" Hermione hesitated, then moved the tray she'd put on the table to one side, and lifted the middle up to reveal a mirror underneath. She raised it upright and moved the table over Harry's lap, then pulled his glasses out of the drawer in the bedside table and put them gently on his face. He looked into the mirror and gasped audibly.

His right eye had been blacked, and was half swollen shut, his nose was swollen as well, and had a plaster across it, indicating that it had been broken, and his lips were nearly twice their normal size, along with various scabs, bruises and scrapes over almost every inch of the rest of his image.

"Oh my God," he whispered. "I can't even see myself. I literally don't recognize this person." Hermione sniffled and took his hand.

"It's all right, Harry. They said that there won't be any scarring or residual effects from your injuries. You're going to be fine." They heard the tape recorder click off again.

"And you're going home tomorrow morning," Alex said. "As soon as your bones have healed and the swelling on your knee is gone, they're going to release you."

"What about the rest?"

"You just have to take potions for the next few days, but they'll be gone by the end of the week," Hermione said, lowering the mirror and returning the tray, which Harry saw now held his breakfast, to the center. "The healers said you have to eat to keep the potions from making you sick, though, so here." She held out a fork. He took it, but was unable to maneuver it well enough to get the scrambled eggs from the plate onto it. He looked at Hermione questioningly when she took the fork back and scooped up some eggs for him.

"I would have gotten it eventually."

"I know. But I didn't think about the fact that the healers want you to stay as still as possible when I handed it to you, and as you're due for another round of potions here in a few minutes, we need to get you fed." She held the fork up to his mouth, but he didn't open it for a minute, just stared at her. "Harry, please?" He opened up and she put the tines into his mouth.

"Well, I'm going to go now, so you can have your breakfast, and I need to go find Miss Shaw," Officer Sumtner said, gathering his notepad and pen.

"Thank you," Harry said when he'd swallowed the eggs. Hermione held up another forkful, and he took it, his appetite begining to return as the first bit of food made its way to his stomach. Alex nodded and walked out the door, closing it behind him.

"Are you thirsty?" Harry said that he was, and Hermione brought the glass of orange juice to his mouth, then gave him some more of the eggs when he'd taken a drink.

"Hermione, I've been trying to fugure a way that you can prove to me that you _do_ trust me. I've been wondering on how to ask you this for a while now, and I think maybe now is the time. If you trust me, that is."

"I do trust you, Harry. Anything you want, all you have to do is ask."

"Because you trusting me is going to help with regaining my trust in _you_."

"Anything, Harry."

"All right. What I want..." He was inturrupted by the healer coming in with his potions. She left as soon as he'd taken them with a promise to return in a few seconds with another healer to help Harry to the toilet, as he'd expressed his discomfort when she asked how he was doing. The two came back into the room, pushing a wheel chair so that he wouldn't have to move his knee too much in the process. A few minutes later, a blushing Harry was back in his bed and the healers had left the room and closed the door once more.

"I know that it was necessary for them to stay in the room with me, but as one of them was a woman, it was a little embarrassing!"

"You would think that you'd be used to it having been in the hospital wing at Hogwarts as much as you were. I think Madam Pomfrey went through a Potter withdrawal when we left after sixth year. Then when we came back to take our seventh, I know I saw her eyes light up when she saw you at the Gryffindor table." Harry chuckled.

"She certainly did welcome me back when I got hit with a Bludger during that first Quidditch practice."

"And she was walking around with a smile for as long as you were in there. Maybe she had a crush on you?"

"I wouldn't go that far. But I _did _seem to be her favorite patient. But enough of that. I wanted somthing from you."

"I remember. What was it?"

"Come here," he said. She leaned forward and he turned his head to whisper into her ear. Her brown eyes widened as he told her what he wanted her to do, and she swallowed with an audible gulp as she sat back in her chair. "If you're not comfortable doing that, I'll understand, but it will be a lot longer for me to start trusting you."

"No! I'm fine with it. I said you could ask me for anything, didn't I? I have no problem with you wanting to do that with me." She shifted in her seat as she thought about it, though. "Now let's finish with your breakfast."


	60. Home Again

Stripped Bare- Chapter 60

Home Again

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

Ron opened the door and turned to help Harry through it. He was brushed off as Hermione handed him Harry's bag instead.

"I'm fine, Ron," Harry said with a smile as he entered the flat on his crutches. The healers at St. Mungo's had insisted that he use them to keep the swelling from reforming on his knee. His bones had been mended, his bruises were fading rapidly, and the only thing that he was going to be left with as a reminder, was that his knee could possibly get a little stiff and sore when the weather changed. Ron set the bag on the sofa gently so as to not break any of the potions that Harry still had to take. Harry hobbled over to an armchair and lowered himself carefully into it.

"Are you really?" came Luna's voice from the kitchen doorway. Harry looked up at her and smiled.

"Yeah. The healers told me to take the potions for a week and to stay off my knee for the next day or so, and I'll be good as new. I just have to take it easy right now." He turned to Hermione as she sat on the arm of his chair. "But the part that makes this whole ordeal worth it, is that Hermione has forgiven me, and the wedding is back on." Ron and Luna shared a glance. Hermione had told them how upset Harry'd been when he'd woken up the day before, and how he'd agreed to take her back on one condition. One that they knew had to make her uncomfortable, but she'd agreed without hesitation. They knew how much she loved Harry, but she had to have a _lot _of trust to do what he'd asked of her.

"And hopefully the day will be as sheduled?" Hermione asked her fiancé. He nodded and tilted his head up for her to kiss him. She leaned down to cover his lips with her own, drawing a soft moan of pleasure from him.

"I've missed that," he said when she straightened up. She smiled.

"Me too," she agreed.

"Hang on. You just said the wedding was going on as scheduled?" Ron asked. "That's less than a week away!" Harry and Hermione both confirmed that they knew this. "Harry's on crutches, he still has to take potions to help him heal, and you've just gotten back together!"

"Ron, we've been planning this wedding for five months, I love Hermione with all my heart and I want to marry her."

"But...but..." Ron sputtered. "She compared you to Stephen, threw the ring at you and then subjected you to a week of hell where she wouldn't talk to you or even stay in the same room! And you just forgive her like that?"

"No, not just like that. I know Hermione told you about the condition that I asked for. She said yes, so that means she trusts me enough to even think of it. I think that calls for me to reciprocate. I'll start to trust her again if she allows this to happen. But she has to trust that I'm not going to hurt her. And that it would kill me to do so."

"How would that regain your trust, Harry?" Luna asked, crossing the room to sit across from the newly reconciled couple.

"It would prove that she has faith in me, to start."

"Yes, but that could just be that she wants you back, and would be willing to agree to anything you ask."

"Luna, I know what you're saying, but I know Hermione, as well. She would only agree to this if she _does_ trust me. End of story. And I'm not going to try to explain it anymore." He levered himself out of his seat and reached for his crutches.

"Harry, don't get upset. Luna doesn't mean anything by what she's asking. We just want to know that you're sure about this," Ron said as Harry started to his room, Hermione right behind him with his bag. His raven-haired friend stopped and looked over his shoulder at him.

"It's sounding like you don't trust me to know what I want and need, Ron. Am I going to have to make a request of you as well to prove you do?"

"Of course not. I know you're strong minded enough to make decisions for yourself. You always have been. But you were hurt emotionally and mentally by what happened after that party."

"Well, then why are you questioning me?"

"We just don't want you to be hurt again. If you're sure that it's not going to happen, then Luna and I are thrilled that the two of you are back together and that you're still getting married on Sunday." Harry nodded.

"I'm sure. I'm happy, Ron. And I'm not going to get hurt again." He took Hermione's hand. "I know I'm not." Ron grinned broadly.

"O.K. then!" He hugged Hermione, then Harry (although bit more gingerly as his friend was still in a small amount of pain from Stephen's attack).

"I'm going to get Harry showered, changed and into bed. The healers want him to rest for just a while longer," Hermione said. She followed Harry down the corridor to the bathroom. As soon as the door was closed, she turned to him. "What do you think?"

"That they believe I'm making a mistake in taking you back. They may not say it out loud, but they're thinking it. You know what, though? I don't care."

"Are you sure? That this is what you want, I mean? I _did_ hurt you. Rather badly, I might add."

"Hermione, I've said repeatedly since you agreed to the condition that I asked, that I forgive you. Yes, I was hurt by you comparing me to Stephen, and not trusting me when I didn't want you to help pay for our honeymoon, and then throwing the ring at me when you left Kailah's, but I'm going to try to forget that happened, and start over with you. But I want our fresh start to be with absolute trust, and that involves..." He smiled. "Tell me, since I haven't seen her since it happened, how is Kailah doing?"

"She's fine. She made her report to Alex when Ron and I did, by the way, Stephen is in prison for attempted murder for the next forty years. No chance of early release, since they know he'd more than likely come after one of us. They have him locked in the Psyche ward as well."

"Good. Kailah being fine, I mean." He started to unbutton his shirt. Hermione crossed the room to help him.

"And there's even better news," she said as she slipped his arms from the sleeves.

"What's that?"

"She went on a double date with Andrea and Brenden last night."

"Really? That's great. I've been thinking that she needed to find somebody. All your other friends have. Who did she go with?"

"Cameron," Hermione said with a smile. Harry was taken aback.

"And you're happy about that?"

"Yes. Ginny and I have been trying to set her up for the last few weeks anyway, and when we got Andrea involved, she asked Brenden if there was anyone that Cam was interested in, and Brenden said Cameron had been watching Kailah ever since that show when you," she looked his still bruised body over as she pushed his jeans down, "Bared everything."

"What started that?"

"We don't really know, but does it matter? I think she'll be good for him. He needs to settle down." She reached into the shower stall and turned on the water. "Now in! I'm supposed to be getting you ready for bed."

"I know what you could do to get me ready," Harry said with a smirk.

"Not until you're completely healed, Harry," Hermione shook her head. "The healers were very adamant about that point. You could hurt yourself again. Harry sighed with a nod. He remembered having been told that.

"Doesn't mean I can't wish," he sighed. "I've missed you, Hermione."

"I missed you too, Harry. More than you know." She took one of his hands and helped him under the shower stream. He flinched as the too hot water pounded his body. "Needs a bit more cold?"

"Yes, please," he hissed, attempting to move away from the sting. A second later, the water was a more comfortable temperature. He returned to the center of the stall and Hermione began washing his chest and arms. "I can do that, you know."

"Not and be able to stay off your knee, you can't," she smiled faintly. "Let me do this, Harry." She looked up at him, pleading. "Please?"

"Is this part of your apology? You want to take care of my every need?" Hermione straightened with a nod. "All right, if it makes you feel better, but I forgave you, remember."

"I know you did, but I still feel so guilty about what happened. It wouldn't have if I hadn't been so stupid." She resumed running the soap over his torso.

"Hey," he said, stopping her by grabbing her hand. This made him wobble a bit and he fell against the shower wall. Hermione was quick to react. "I'm fine," he said, levering himself upright again. "You weren't being stupid. I know that Stephen betrayed your trust, and basically treated you like shit the entire time you were with him. It had to seem suspicious that I didn't want your help with our honeymoon. But you have to remember, I am not Stephen, and I have never treated you the way he did. I never will, Hermione."

"Harry, you're making me feel even more guilty about what I did."

"Good. Maybe then the next time you want to accuse me of behaving like him, you'll remember that I wasn't trying to hurt you, I wanted to make you happy." Hermione got down on the floor to wash Harry's legs, being careful of his tender right knee.

"I will," she said. "Because after seeing what Stephen did to you, I don't think I can ever forget it."


	61. Harry's Request

Stripped Bare- Chapter 60

Harry's Request

Author's Note: Before I get flamed for this, I'm saying right now that this was what Harry asked Hermione for while he was in St. Mungo's. It is a supreme request of trust as a person can be very heavily injured if they don't have faith in their partner.

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

It was now getting down to the wire. The wedding was two days away, and Harry was almost completely healed. He was feeling so much better in fact, that he'd asked the healers at St, Mungo's if he could now resume his normal activities. When they'd told him that he would be fine to do so, Harry had called Mitch to let him know that he'd be able to dance in that night's show.

He was now standing in front of his bedroom mirror, examining his costume. He'd decided that he rather liked the one he'd begun the show with for Hermione's party, but had wanted to make a few adjustments. Luna had been more than happy to help him. She was now six months and was becoming bored with the fact that she was no longer able to accompany her father on his ramblings looking for imaginary creatures, and had been thrilled to have something to do, even if it had only been to add another zipper or two to Harry's current outfit.

The CD he was listening to changed tracks and he listened to the beginning of the next. He'd used some of the songs on this CD in that show, and was now wanting to find more to use tonight.

"No," he said, changing the track again with the remote. That one was too slow for his taste. The next one was better, it had a beat he'd be able to dance to and he made a note of the track's number.

"Harry, what are you doing?" Hermione's voice said from the doorway. He turned and smiled at her.

"The healers have released me to my usual activities and I told Mitch that I'd be able to dance tonight after all."

"All right, if you're sure you want to do that. Aren't you worried that you might hurt yourself again, though?" Harry shook his head.

"Nope, it's going to be plenty warm during the show, so my knee won't have a chance to bother me. If it does afterwards, I'll ice it." He flipped the remote in the direction of his CD player, changing the song again. The next one was going to be his starting song for the evening, so he merely skipped to the next. "Hey, you wanna dance with me?"

"What, right now?"

"Yeah! Come on, Hermione. We need the practice for our wedding." He held out his hand to her and led her to the middle of the room.

"Isn't this song a little fast, Harry? Our first dance as husband and wife won't be to a song like this one." She giggled as his arms went around her waist, and he aimed the remote at the CD player again.

"How about this one?" he asked, when a slower song came on. Hermione noticed how sultry the song sounded, but nodded and began to move with Harry. She laughed when the artist sang about a potion.

"Isn't this singer a Muggle?" she asked. Harry looked over his shoulder in the direction of the music.

"Yeah, but like Dumbledore always said, Muggles usually know more than wizards and witches give them credit for." He spun her around in a circle.

"That's true. There are things they're _bound_ to notice. Like how it can be that a traffic lamp had changed from red to green in less than five seconds? I saw that the other day when I was having lunch, and a few Muggles that were crossing the street had to rush the rest of the way, complaining that the city needed to check the timing on some of the intersections. But I know some of them were back at that same corner less than a half hour later, and the signal was working like it normally does. I heard one or two of them commenting on it as they went past me."

"I've heard some stuff like that as well," Harry agreed, and spun her around again, then leaned down to kiss her. She readily met his lips with her own, moaning softly when he began to deepen the kiss. Their dance ended as Harry reached up, taking Hermione's face in his hands. Her arms went around his neck in the next second. They stayed in this position for a minute or two until a more urgent need made itself known.

"Hermione," Harry whispered. "I need you."

"I know," she answered. "It's been too long, Harry." He gave a small soft snort of laughter.

"It's been over a month," he said with a nod. "I agree." He waved his hand in the direction of the door. It closed with a snap and the usual wards came into action. "Much too long."

"Then what are we waiting for?" Hermione asked, moving the two of them towards Harry's bed. They landed on it and made short work of removing their clothing. She took hold of his hardness, stroking firmly as he rolled onto his back. She saw the remainder of the bruises that he'd recieved on his chest and leaned down to kiss each one, drawing shivers from him as her lips ran over ticklish spots. Harry groaned as her grasp on him tightened.

"Harry," she whispered, looking up into his eyes. "I want to do what you asked me."

"Are you sure?" he asked. Hermione nodded.

"I trust you. Completely." Harry brought her up to him and crushed his lips against hers.

"I'll try my best not to hurt you," he whispered.

"I'm not worried, Harry. I know you. You would rather die than hurt me." Harry reached down and pulled her on top of him, using her dripping center to coat him in preperation for what he was about to do.

"I want you to be absolutely sure about this, Hermione, I think I _would_ die if I hurt you doing this." Hermione shifted her position, relishing the feelings she was getting from his member pressing against her heated wetness.

"I've never been so sure about anything, Harry." She was telling him the truth. When he'd first asked her, she'd agreed, without thinking, knowing that he'd never willingly cause her pain, but over the course of the next few days, she'd found that the very idea had begun to turn her on.

Harry decided to let her be the one to initiate what was to happen next. He didn't want to force her to do this. His worries were unfounded, though, when she slid off him and rose onto her hands and knees.

"Now, Harry," she said. He moved behind her, and being as worried about possibly hurting her as he was, he lowered his hand to her sopping entrance in order to distribute the lubrication where he needed it to be at the moment. Hermione moaned when his fingers touched her, and she pushed back into them, making her desire for him to get on with it perfectly clear, but Harry slid his hand back down to collect more of the moisture so that he could spread it over his already glistening erection.

"I'll be gentle," he promised her, and with one hand on her hip, he guided his tip to an area that he'd never explored before. Hermione involuntarily tensed when she felt him touch her back door; she couldn't stop the small wave of fear that rushed over her at that moment, but knew that Harry wouldn't lie to her and relaxed the best she could. She _wanted_ this to happen, she'd found since the day after he'd been released from St. Mungo's. He gently started to push against the tiny opening, and small waves of pleasure formed in her core. She wanted the waves to get bigger, but she knew that if she forced him inside, it was going to hurt immensely, so she waited with growing impatience.

Harry was begining to sweat with the effort to not slam into her. This was tighter than he'd expected, gripping him even more than she normally did. He managed to get through her seemingly unwilling sphincter muscle, and he heard her moan.

"Are you all right?" he asked. She looked over her shoulder at him, her chocolate eyes filled with longing for him to just take her. She nodded and dropped her head to the bed's surface with another moan, this one obviously approving of what was happening to her.

"Don't stop, Harry," she groaned, wiggling her hips. "Don't stop!" He resumed slowly pushing into her body, pausing every inch or so to allow her to become used to him in this new way.

Hermione on the other hand, was more than willing for him to force his cock into her ass all the way, even if it _was_ going to hurt. She desperately wanted him to fuck her, _hard_. This felt better than she'd thought it would, and she wanted all of him inside her. She was about to push back into him when she finally felt his hips meet her backside. She hissed her approval.

"Oh, Merlin," Harry sighed, laying his upper body over her. She again wiggled her hips, begging him to move. He tightened his grip on her flank. "I wouldn't, Hermione," he warned. "Keep in mind that it _has_ been over a month since we've been together, and _never_ this way. I'll be finished before we even get started." He raised up and slowly pulled out half way, pushing back in just as slowly. Hermione writhed as best as she was able without overexciting him, and making him explode.

"Harry, please," Hermione pleaded with him looking back at him once more. "I need you to move faster!"

"Are you sure?"

"If you don't, I'm going to _hex_ you!"

"Understood," he said with a smirk. "But, Hermione..."

"You're not going to hurt me, Harry. I trust you. Please!" Harry let go of his fears and gave Hermione what she wanted. He started out gradually, but before long he was pounding into her body with a speed she never thought him capable of. Hermione keened her pleasure as Harry's fingers came down to her mound, teasing her clit with long strokes, wanting her to come when he did. She reached down with her own hand, pushing his lower and replacing his fingers with her own. Realizing what she wanted him to do, Harry slipped three of his fingers into her tunnel, moving them in time with his increasingly urgent thrusts. He felt the begining of his orgasm coming closer with every second.

"Hermione," he groaned, trying to let her know what was about to happen. It wasn't necessary. Her back arched and she screamed his name before he could say another word. He gratefully allowed his own release to wash over him, collapsing onto her back, with one hand supporting his weight to keep from crushing her as they fell flat on the bed.

"Thank you," Harry whispered as he seperated his body from hers and moved to her side, drawing her into his arms.

"For what?" she asked. "I enjoyed it as much as you did."

"I know. But if you hadn't trusted me, neither one of us would have." He kissed her gently. "Now I can do the same for you." Hermione's eyes filled with tears as she realized what he meant. He was starting to trust her again. That was what she wanted more than their wedding day, more than a life with him. If she didn't have Harry's trust, she had nothing.


	62. Discussion In The Dressing Room

Stripped Bare- Chapter 62

Discussion In The Dressing Room

Author's Note- Sorry that this is so short, but I wanted to leave it at this so I could make a longer chapter with Harry's dance, and then one about the subject at the end. The story is about finished, only a few chapters left to go. :(

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

Harry stood in front of the mirror in the dressing room. He'd had a talk with Mitch and they'd come to the agreement that after his wedding, Harry would continue with the group under a schedule that fit him better. He was going to want to have more time with his new wife, and of course there was going to be and increased work load from the Ministry when they returned from their honeymoon. He turned around to make sure that the zippers were all fastened correctly in his costume. Luna had made it easier for him to put the pieces on one at a time instead of all together, as he'd had a difficult time doing _that_ one. The only problem was, now he had to be sure that the fastenings were all done up, or he was going to have what was referred to as a wardrobe malfunction.

"You certainly don't want _that_ to happen, especially if you're trying to attract the customers into giving you money," Luna'd said just that morning. He'd laughed then, but now it was making him a bit paranoid. He'd gotten a few chuckles from the other guys this evening as he was changing for his set, and as he was going on in just a few minutes, he was making his final adjustments

"Harry, we were kidding!" Brenden said as he watched the goings on in front of him. The other dancers had said that one of the zippers had jumped its track when he'd been facing away from them, and he'd gone spastic to their great amusement.

"It's your own fault for making a costume with that many zippers anyway," Cameron added. Curtis merely laughed. Harry stopped his fussing and turned to them, his hands on his hips.

"You know, I can tell Maureen, Andrea and Kailah about this."

"Ooooohhhh!" the other three men in the room replied, pretending to shake with fear. Harry moved toward the door and they sprang up from their seats. "NO!"

"See, you don't _want_ them knowing, do you?" Harry chuckled as he resumed his prior position.. "Besides, this outfit got a lot of approval when I wore it at Hermione's hen party." He looked at them through the mirror.

"I'm sure that Hermione is grilling Kailah about it as we speak, but how did your date go the other day?" he asked Cameron. The other man grinned.

"Great!" he answered. "We're going out again tonight after the show."

"Speaking of shows," Brenden began. "Harry, why didn't _you_ gave a stag night? We really would have liked to throw you one." He indicated himself and the other two guys.

"I would have, but if you'll remember, Hermione and I weren't exactly together for a week, then I spent two nights in hospital, and I've been healing since then. I just got the all clear for me to resume my normal activities today. The wedding is the day after tomorrow."

"There's still tomorrow then!" Cameron exclaimed, crossing to Harry and putting an arm over his shoulders. "Come on, mate. You can't get married without having your stag night! It's tradition, after all." Brenden and Curtis nodded, wide grins on their faces.

"You already had this planned, didn't you?" Harry said suspiciously. Three heads bobbed in unison. "My God. You'll have to talk to Hermione."

"What? You have to be joking!" Cameron said indignantly. "You really are whipped, you know that?" 

"It has nothing to do with me being _whipped_, Cam. I said that I was just released to my usual activities today. I'm still taking the potions that repair the bruises, which by the way, are still visible in some places, I might add. Hermione has been very protective of me since I came home from the hospital. She's been taking care of me, and she knows, I think better than I to a point, what I can and can't handle right now." He knew that she was sitting out in the audience right at that moment, ready to act if something happened to injure him again. That afternoon, he'd been in control of his movements, as he would be tonight, but there was no telling what would happen if Cameron and the others had hired a female stripper to dance during the stag party. He told them as much and added, "So if you want this to happen, you're going to have to clear it with her." He heard his introduction, and left the room with a salute to the other three.

"You, of course, aren't going to tell him that Hermione already knows about it?" Brenden asked.

"Nope."

"Or that it's tonight, when he gets home?"

"Nope."

"Or that the stipper already knows to be careful with him?"

"Nope."

"Yeah, she'll be careful with him, all right. Hermione wouldn't do anything to ruin their honeymoon!" Laughter filled the dressing room as Harry's song started.


	63. A Small Surprise For Harry

Stripped Bare- Chapter 63

A Small Surprise For Harry

Author's Note- I am so sorry that it has taken so long for me to update this! Again, I was hit by writer's block and it just would not let go! I know that it's not that much longer than the last chapter, but I just couldn't think of anything else for Harry to do with his dance that he hadn't already done, and there is the fact that he's got another surprise waiting for him when the show is done!

Disclaimer: I own nothing of Harry Potter.

Harry had to grin to himself as he was met with wild applause when he entered the dance floor. He had the feeling that Mitch had told the audience about his being in the hospital. He'd been the last to dance that night, and had received quite a few appraising looks from the women in the audience. He gathered that some of them had been told about the show back in June.

A few women whistled now as his routine started. In the past, he would have blushed, but given that he'd taken off everything more than once during a dance, this no longer fazed him; he just went on with what he was doing. He moved to the center of the floor and offered his right arm to a woman that was sitting directly in front of him. She stood up and tugged on the zipper, pulling his sleeve off as Harry spun slowly away.

"I'm glad that you weren't really hurt," the next woman said as he reached her side. He thanked her as she tucked a pound note under the edge of where his sleeve had been. He looked up at Mitch; giving him a questioning look as he continued to move around the audience. He winked at Hermione as he passed her table, hearing a sudden case of giggles from the others sitting with her. A glance back at the table, and he saw absolutely nothing out of the ordinary. He started to wonder if maybe there _was_ something wrong with his costume, and vowed to never wear this one again.

Three minutes later, Harry had been divested of his other sleeve and one of the legs of the tightly fitting leather. He was beginning to sweat a bit, and was wanting to be rid of the whole blasted lot when he turned to the next woman. He straddled her lap, bringing her hand around to his left hip; indicating for her to tug the zipper. A few seconds later, his other leg was finally free. He felt marginally cooler, but not enough to stop the sweat that was running down his back. The song changed and Harry knew that he only had a few minutes left of his routine. Deciding to make his way back to Hermione's table, he found that she was surrounded by more than her usual friends. Surely they hadn't been there when he'd last passed the table? He was astounded at how many she had at the table with her; Ginny, Andrea, Kailah and Maureen of course, but now they'd been joined by Cho Chang, Katie Bell, Alicia Spinnet, Fleur Weasley, Angelina Johnson... Harry thought his jaw was going to hit the floor. Angelina waggled her fingers at him, a small smile on her lips. He swallowed hard, squared his shoulders and closed the distance between him and the table.

"We all arrived just after your dance started," Angelina informed him when Harry came up to her. He looked over to his fianceé and raised his eyebrows questioningly. She only gave him a smile.

"All right," he said, not stopping with his routine, but straddled Cho's lap and grabbing her hands, brought them around to his ass, where she took great delight in squeezing the tight muscles under the warm leather.

"Oh!" she giggled, giving him one last pinch as he moved off her. "Hermione, I am now thoroughly jealous. My husband certainly doesn't have a bum like _that_!" Harry laughed as he moved around to Katie next, offering her his hip so that she would pull the zipper. She did so and he showed off his flexability in pulling his leg out of its sheath by turning slowly back toward Cho, his leg raising up into the air to his side, putting him into a dancer pose when his foot reached shoulder height. He looked over at Katie and rested his foot on her shoulder with a grin.

"What are you going to do to Katie now?" Cho asked, spinning around in her seat to see.

"Not Katie. Angelina," Harry said, nodding toward the chair between the two women. His current position centered him directly in front of Angelina, and he used the leverage of Katie now holding onto his ankle to roll his hips in front of the former Gryffindor Chaser. Katie laughed as Angelina's face turned flame red at being this close to her former team mate's body, especially given the situation and Harry's current state of dress.

He now felt more comfortable, having all his limbs free of the leather, but the one part that he wanted to have removed was still tightly zipped up. To get this remedied, he moved over to where his fiancée was sitting, and pulled her out of her chair, picked her up and carried her to the front of the room. MItch, seeing that his still newest dancer was about to do something that he'd never been able to get him to do before, was thrilled. He rushed to get the blanket he kept with the group's equipment and spread it out on the floor in front of all the tables. The group that remained at Hermione's table had to stand up to see what was going on as the rest of the women had gathered around the scene that was about to unfold.

"What are you doing?" Hermione gasped as Harry lay her down on the blanket.

"Giving you a bit of a hint as to what I have in store for you tonight," he responded, pushing her legs up over his shoulders and lifting her hips level with his waist. He put an arm on either side of her, and started gently and slowly bumping his hips against her body, increasing his speed and force as his second song reached its end. When he'd talked to Mitch before the show had started, he'd asked that another song be added to his routine, specifically _this_ song. He wanted to use it in attempt to turn Hermione on, and was thrilled when he'd finally gotten her to unzip the top of his costume so that he could be rid of the damned thing.

"I'm never wearing this costume again," Harry muttered to Hermione, who didn't seem to hear him. She'd taken off the leather garment and now had it clasped to her face with one hand while the other grasped at his shoulder. He smiled as he knew exactly what was happening. His plan had worked. Hermione was on the verge of an orgasm right there in the middle of the show! He hurriedly pulled away from her, not wanting everyone in the building know that his fiancée was getting off for him.

"Harry!" she said, tossing his shirt aside and looking up at him, her eyes full of undiluted lust. He gave her a kiss on the cheek as he pulled her back up and explained the situation to her.

"I promise that when we get home, I'm going to do anything you want," he said as an apology, and pointed her back to her seat so that he could finish his routine.

"Not right away, Harry," Hermione said as she returned to her table. "There's a surprise for you when you get home."


End file.
